One Of The Boys
by stopnatsu
Summary: "I love you, Natsu," Lucy had whispered. Natsu smiled and replied, "I love you too, Luce. Like a brother." Nalu AU in which Lucy and Natsu are childhood best friends. Oh, and she's desperately in love with him, but he's too dumb to notice. After leaving to attend an all-girls' prep school, she returns, a changed woman. But will he even notice?
1. Neighbors

Lucy had moved in next door when they were both five years old.

Natsu hadn't hesitated to stomp up the Heartfilia's porch steps, force his clammy hands into a little fist, and knock out a tune on their wooden doorway. Lucy's father had answered the door, his lips instantly twisting into a little grin when he saw the messy haired boy bravely staring up at him.

The boy stuck his sticky hand out. "I'm Natsu," He'd said, oddly charismatic for his age. "Nice to meet ya."

Jude had crouched down, amused by the youngster. He shook the boy's hand. "My name is Jude. How old are you, Natsu?"

The pink haired boy stuck his hand up, fingers spread wide. "Five and a half."

"Want to know a secret?"

"Yup."

Jude smiled at him. "I have a daughter, and she's the exact same age as you."

Natsu's eyebrows rose, and he stood on his tippy toes, trying to peek into the house behind the man. "Well, where is she?"

"She's a little shy," Jude explained, chuckling at the boy's excitement. "How about this: you go home and ask your parents to come over for dinner, and then you can meet Lucy."

Natsu had grinned up at the man. "Her name is Lucy?"

"It sure is."

The boy hopped off the porch, giving a wave of his hands as he rounded the sidewalk back to his own house. "I'll talk to my folks!"

He'd come back a while later, mother and father in tow. His father had brought a bottle of wine, and his mother held a homemade pie; Jude greeted them in the doorway. He'd invited them in, sat them down in the living room, made small talk.

Little Lucy, shy as ever, eventually came down from her room. She had her short blonde hair in pigtails, and she wore a lacy white dress.

Jude brought Natsu over, introduced the two children, and then returned to his seat to chat with the fellow adults, leaving the kids alone with one another.

"I'm Natsu," The pink haired boy had said loudly, not a hint of shyness in his tone.

The girl's cheeks had gone pink. She looked at her feet. "My name's Lucy."

"Well, aren't you gonna show me around?"

And so, she did. She showed him the entire house, taking him up to her room last. The entire room was covered in pink and purple flowers, with pretty princess dolls sitting daintily on the perfectly made up bed.

"No way!" Natsu cried, dashing to the window, resting his elbows on the sill. "That's my bedroom!"

Lucy stood beside him, their elbows touching. "It is?"

"Yeah," Natsu responded. The houses were close—living in the city gave you pretty small yard space; the houses were practically on top of one another—and the two childrens' bedrooms faced one another. Natsu figured that their rooms were so close, he could craft them a make-shift telephone out of two cans and a string. "Cool, huh?"

And so, they did just that. And by the time they'd made the telephone, it was time for Natsu to go home; as soon as he stepped foot in his own house, he raced up to his bedroom.

Lucy was sitting at her window sill, waiting for him; she waved, smiling. She opened up her window and tossed him a can, his side of the telephone. He caught it easily.

They talked all night on their little telephone. It didn't take them long to become best friends.

By the time they were six, they spent every minute possible with one another. The moment one of them woke up, they'd be shouting into their can telephone, telling the other to get up; they'd groggily chat until it was breakfast time. After breakfast, they'd meet up and walk to the bus stop together. They'd sit on the bus, chatting and joking the whole time. Neither of them were shy—not anymore. They got along too well to be shy with each other.

By the time they were seven, everyone at school was aware of their special relationship. Normally, a fellow would be teased about liking a girl if he even gave her a glance—in a regular situation, Natsu would've been hounded by the other boys. But no one made fun of Natsu and Lucy. No one teased them about having crushes on one another. It was just understood, right from the get go, that the two of them were absolutely special to one another. No one, not even for a second, thought they liked each other—they were far too comfortable for it to be a mere crush. No, these two...they were family.

And by the time they'd hit middle school, Natsu had influenced Lucy greatly.

She'd become a regular tomboy. The lacy dresses and the girly bedroom were long behind her, now; she'd tossed her clothes and redecorated, opting now for posters about her favorite athletes or action movies. Her wardrobe consisted mainly of baseball tees and grubby jeans or sweats. Now, she'd spend most of her time with the boys—Natsu, Grey, Laxus and Gajeel—hitting some baseballs or tossing the football or digging in the swamp for tadpoles.

Her father was never pleased; he'd intended on raising a well behaved princess. At first, he hadn't raised any eyebrows—she was just making friends. And then, once she'd started wearing baseball caps instead of headbands, he still hadn't said anything. After all, Natsu _was_ over day and night. He was bound to influence her a little.

And then, it seemed, his princess was completely gone.

He'd tried coaxing her back to her sweet girly ways subtly, at first. Buy her a pretty doll, the one that was sold out in stores all across the country. He'd set her up on playdates with other little girls, hoping they'd rub off on her. When that didn't work, he tried harder. He'd buy her dresses (that she never wore). He'd shipped her off for a weekend with her auntie, which still seemed to have no effect.

Once she'd hit grade six, he spent most of his time talking about this school—an all girls boarding school way up in the mountains. It was like a normal school, but specifically geared towards females—particularly girly females. Horseback riding, beauty classes, courses about proper female manners. Sexist, maybe, but there was no doubt in his mind that it would straighten her back out, return her to her formerly girly self.

It wasn't that he didn't like Lucy being a tomboy—of course not, he'd always love Lucy no matter what. It's just...he'd always imagined her as his little princess, always wearing lacy dresses and tiaras and pearls around her neck. Maybe it was because that was what her mother was like. And he missed Layla so much...

By grade six, Lucy and Natsu's relationship had only grown exponentially.

They'd walk to school together, go to class together, share their lunches; they'd play games together, compete together, everything. They'd walk home, chatting about whatever came up that day—they didn't get tired of each other's presence.

And they'd tell each other everything; they were each other's only confidant. They'd help each other through their lives, holding the other up when things got too hard.

When Natsu failed math, Lucy stayed up with him every night that week and tutored him. By the next exam, he was scoring solid A's. To thank her, he'd bought her an icecream cone. They shared it.

When some girls were picking on Lucy—making fun of her for having no girl friends, only hanging out with the boys—Natsu stood up for her. He'd been heading to Lucy's locker after school, like he always did, so they could walk home together. He'd found Lucy cringing against her locker while three girls laughed, calling her a loser and saying she had no friends and that she needed to get a life. Natsu had snapped, swearing at the girls and telling them they were useless; the girls had ran off, upset—Natsu was the most popular boy in school, after all—cheeks red. Natsu had asked Lucy if she was okay, and she'd cried; he'd hugged her tight, telling her that those girls were dumb and that Lucy had all the friends she needed.

He'd walked her home, arm tight around her as she sniffled. He'd hauled her up to her bedroom, plopping her down on her mattress. He'd wrapped her blankets around her tight, cuddling her up in a little burrito of sheets and covers, and sat beside her. She'd cried, and he'd hugged her tight. They'd stayed there all night—Natsu had called his parents, saying he was staying the night over at Lucy's—her crying sadly and him desperately trying to cheer her up. And as the night faded to darkness, he'd managed to get her to stop crying. And then he'd managed to make her crack a smile. And by the time they were falling asleep, they were both grinning, sides hurting due to their nonstop laughter.

They had sleepovers a lot—nearly every weekend. Sometimes even on weekdays. They'd stay up late and pig out on chips and chocolate and watch scary movies in Lucy's bedroom on her laptop. And they'd fall asleep like that, smears of food on their cheeks, legs entwined together.

And on the nights they didn't sleepover, they'd still chat until the sun went down. They'd talk through their windows—they were only a couple feet away after all, and all they had to do was open their windows to chat. And when it got too dark for them to see each other properly, or when their parents had to sleep and they couldn't talk loudly, they'd both cuddle into their beds and talk through their can and string phones.

They'd go to every school dance together, spending the whole time fooling around and dancing like idiots. They didn't care what people thought; they only cared about each other.

And in grade eight, at the end of the year dance, when some boy named Brad tried to confess his love to Lucy, Natsu had gotten mad. The boy was awkward and was sweating profusely, and he'd asked to talk to Lucy in private—Natsu had refused. The boy had grumbled out that he'd had a crush on Lucy all year, that he thought she was beautiful. Natsu had snapped; he'd told the boy to leave, that Lucy wasn't interested. When the boy _didn't_ leave, Natsu resorted to threatening him violently. The boy ran off pretty quick.

Lucy had looked at Natsu, a frown on her face. "What was that for? You didn't need to be so harsh."

Natsu had shrugged. "You're out of his league."

Lucy looked at her best friend, noticing the slight pink shade in his cheeks. Sure, he'd gone a little overboard with the intimidation, but she didn't mind; she hadn't been interested in Brad, not even a little bit. Besides, the idea of Natsu _protecting_ her...well, that made her stomach flop a little bit, but she wasn't sure why.

And with that, they returned to the dance, spending the rest of the evening twirling each other through the dance floor; they took a couple short breaks to head to the snack buffet, where they filled up on chips and fruit.

By the end of the night, they were exhausted; they walked back to their houses side by side.

"My feet hurt," Lucy complained, tugging off the stupid flats she'd worn—her dad refused to let her go to a dance in sneakers.

So, Natsu carried her the whole way home, piggy back style. He carried her up to her room, then dumped her on her bed. He turned, about to leave and head to his own comfy bed, but Lucy spoke up.

"Hey, Natsu?"

The room was dark; they hadn't turned the lights on. "Yeah, Luce?"

"Wanna stay?" She wasn't sure why her heart had been pounding so hard.

He'd given her a glance, still frozen in the doorway, before he turned back and hopped onto the bed beside her. He'd snuggled under the blankets, ripping them away from her and stealing them, like he usually did; Lucy laughed as she wriggled into her own side.

They fell asleep like that, feet and elbows touching.

And, yeah, maybe that meant something to Lucy.

And whenever Lucy thought about her mom too hard, or whenever it was the anniversary of the day her mom passed, Natsu would come over with flowers and chocolate. They never said a word about it—Natsu knew talking about it made Lucy cry—but he'd hold her when the memories hit her too hard and he'd pop a movie in to distract her. And then they carried on, because that's just the way they were.

And things stayed the same for the two of them for a long while. They were still _Lucy and Natsu_ , the bestest friends in the whole wide world. They still told each other everything, they still had sleepovers, they still went and bought milkshakes every Friday night.

And whenever Lucy and her father got into a nasty disagreement—it happened often, mostly due to him pushing the thought of her going to an all girl's boarding school—she'd talk to Natsu through her can, whisper to him, tell him everything that happened.

And every single time, he'd tell her to come over. So, she'd haul herself over to his house, not bothering to knock—they were like family and there was no need for such formal actions—give his parents a wave, and then go up to his room. And he'd ask her if she was okay, and she'd cry every time.

Natsu would reassure her, tell her everything was fine. She didn't _need_ to be girly—she was perfect the way she was. If her father couldn't see that, then screw him.

She'd stay the night and they'd watch gory movies filled with car chases and gunfire.

And one night, when they were sitting in his room after she'd gotten into it particularly badly with her father, she'd looked at her best friend. Her heart was aching and her stomach was fluttering, and she whispered, "I love you, Natsu."

The boy had grinned back at her, looking happier than usual. "I love you too, Luce," He'd whispered back; Lucy's heart leapt. "Like a brother."

She'd frowned, the butterflies in her chest dying on the spot. "Like a _brother_?"

"Well, yeah." The pink haired boy had shrugged. "You're more like one of the guys than a girl. You're like a little brother."

Lucy fell silent, watching the movie quietly. The thought irritated her.

As time went on, the fluttery feelings in her chest only grew when she was around Natsu. She'd begun to notice girls whispering about how cute he was, about how he was the hottest guy in school; Lucy would blush, knowing that he was _that_ popular and that _he_ was _her_ best friend.

Girls would whisper about Lucy and Natsu's relationship, and Lucy would go red. It was flattering, really. But the idea of her and Natsu being together like _that_ —romantically—started to grow on her.

And when they played baseball, she'd start to watch the way his arms flexed when he swung the bat. And when they had sleepovers, she had to stop herself from blushing when he tugged off his shirt. And when they spent every minute together, she had to remind herself that they were simply friends—it wasn't romantic in any way. She was getting ahead of herself.

Regardless of Lucy's newfound feelings for her best friend, they continued on like they always did. They were the best of friends, and she did whatever she could to hide any inkling that the sight of Natsu made her heart pound. She didn't tell a single soul. She barely even admitted her feelings to herself.

And everything was fine.

But then, there was one event that changed things. One single event that altered the course of their relationship. One single occasion that completely disrupted everything.

The grade ten spring formal.


	2. Lisanna

It was grade ten, now, and the school dance was in a couple days. Everyone was in a huge kerfuffle; this year, it was mandatory that the _girls_ asked the _boys_. This, of course, set everyone into a huge panic: girls worried about who to ask, boys worried that no one would ask them. Silliness, really.

Lucy wasn't worried—her and Natsu always went to the dances together.

And she hadn't really thought it about until the school day had ended and she was slowly packing up her backpack at her locker. She frowned, looking at the time; Natsu should've been here already, waiting for her to be ready for their walk home. She hoped he hadn't gotten detention or anything.

So, she'd waited. Pressed her back against the locker, sat on the ground, and waited for him. After another fifteen minutes, he'd finally showed up. He had a goofy smile smeared across his face, a daze in his eyes.

He offered Lucy a hand; she gladly took it, and he pulled her up.

"What's wrong with you?" Lucy asked, narrowing her eyes at him. He looked...different.

He couldn't wipe that dumb grin off of his lips. "Ah, nothin'."

They started to walk. "Tell me," She urged, wondering why he looked so weird.

"You really want to know?"

"Obviously, you doorknob."

They pushed out of the school doors, headed out into the fresh air. It was breezy; the clouds were getting dark, as though it might rain later on.

His voice was funny—happy, but not in his usual way. "Lisanna Strauss asked me to the dance. That's why I was late."

Lucy's steps faltered, and she nearly tripped; she caught herself, taking a quick two steps to catch back up, hoping Natsu hadn't noticed. Her hands subconsciously balled into fists as she gribbed her backpack; her heartbeat picked up. There was noticeable tension in her voice when she spoke. "And you said?"

Natsu snorted. "I said yes, of course. You think I'd turn down an invite by the cutest girl in school?"

Lucy's gaze dropped. For some reason, her legs felt heavier; walking was more of a struggle. "Ah." She took a couple more seconds to spit out her next sentence. "Good for you."

"Yeah." He beamed, which only seemed to make Lucy's chest hurt more. "You ask anyone yet?"

Lucy swallowed. The dance was tomorrow. "No. Not yet."

"Better get on it, lazy."

She didn't respond; she was far too caught up in her own thoughts. Sure, the idea of Natsu going to the dance with Lisanna pissed her off. After all, it was a major inconvenience, now that she had to find her own date. And besides, it sort of sucked that Natsu hadn't upheld their long time tradition of being each other's dates to every dance they'd ever attended.

But was that it? Was that all that made her mad?

Was it the idea of Natsu dancing with another girl? Was it the idea of him walking another girl afterwards? Was it the idea that they might stop on her porch, and he might lean in and kiss her?

Lucy slammed her eyes shut, shaking her head. _No_. No, of course not. She didn't care about that.

At least, that's what she tried to convince herself.

"You okay, Luce?"

Lucy's head snapped up, eyes flashing to Natsu. "What?"

"You're acting funny," He said, voice dripping with concern. His hand flew up and pressed against her forehead; his skin instantly set her skin aflame. "Woah—you're hot."

 _Don't_ , Lucy groaned mentally. _Don't look all worried and cute. Stop it._

When she didn't respond, he changed the subject. "You comin' to pitch? Gray just got a new bat."

Lucy's throat was tight; her voice was a squeak when she spoke. "Uh—raincheck," She mumbled, looking straight ahead rather than at her best friend. "I just...I've got some errands to run."

"Oh," Natsu said. "I'll come with."

"No!" Lucy cried; she froze, desperately trying to calm her voice down. "I mean, nah. It's fine. You guys go hit the ball around. I'll be pretty busy for the rest of the night, so..."

It was the first lie she'd ever told Natsu. The thought stung in her chest, but she couldn't stand to be out there, playing ball with the boys, thinking about Natsu dancing with _Lisanna_ and kissing _Lisanna_ and whatnot. She needed to lie down, drown in her own sorrows for a bit.

She still wouldn't explicitly say _why_ she had sorrows—she refused to admit her feelings even to herself in the privacy of her own mind.

"Okay," Natsu replied, sounding a bit glum. "You sure? It's never fun without you there."

She gave him a quick glance, tightening her messy ponytail from beneath her baseball cap. "Positive. I'll see you tomorrow."

The pink haired boy frowned. "Can we at least have a sleepover?" His lips spread into that classic Natsu grin. "I'll bring your favorite chocolate."

"Um," Lucy stammered, heart beating quickly in her chest. Here he was, puppy dog eyes begging and his lip all pouty. How the hell was she supposed to say no to that? Cringing, knowing she'd never be able to escape her depressed thoughts about the dance, Lucy nodded. "Yeah—sounds great!"

That seemed to brighten his day—the sight of his eyes lighting up after her agreeing to a sleepover sort of made her heart ache. And then, he'd high-fived her goodbye as he dashed off to the baseball field, leaving her standing there, on the sidewalk outside of her house, heart heavy.

She wasn't sure _why_ she felt so glum, but she didn't question it. She was just protective, she'd reminded herself. She was protective about Natsu going to the dance with another girl. Just like he'd been when Brad tried to confess his love for Lucy.

It was friendly. That's all.

Lucy made her way into her house, greeting her father, who had already made it home from work.

"How was school, princess?" He asked. He always called her princess—probably trying to subtly manipulate her out of being a tomboy.

Lucy shrugged, her mind not being able to focus on anything other than Natsu going to the dance with Lisanna. "It was okay. How was your day?"

"Great," Jude said. "Hey—take a look at this. _Another_ pamphlet from that all-girls prep school came in the mail. How odd. Let's look at it."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "What a coincidence," She blabbered, playing along with her father's ruse. She was well aware how desperately he wanted his daughter to attend the school—if only for the summer camp—in order to mold her into the perfect little lady he'd always wanted. They looked at the photos. She couldn't deny, the school was impressive—but not really her thing. "Amazing as always, dad."

She forced a smile onto her face, not wanting to get into an argument with him—not now, when she was already miserable. Her father took her smile as progress; the idea that she might be warming up to the girls' school excited him.

"It really is amazing. And you'd fit in so well. You'd make some female friends!"

Lucy sighed. "I don't need female friends."

Jude sighed, too. "Listen, honey—you know I love Natsu. He's like a son to me. But...a girl _should_ have a girl friend. Just to gossip to, braid their hair. Whatever."

"I gossip with Natsu," Lucy responded. "And I braid his hair."

"That doesn't surprise me," Her father muttered. "Anyways. Honey, think about the prep school, okay?"

She waved him off, heading up the stairs towards her bedroom. "I will, I will."

"Promise me!"

"Pinky promise!" She shouted back, closing her bedroom door and tossing her backpack on the ground.

Then, she leapt into bed face-first, letting out a groan of anguish.

Why did Natsu have to say yes to some other girl?

And _why_ did he have to call Lisanna the cutest girl in school?

The thought made Lucy queasy. She didn't like the idea of Natsu with other girls.

Time flew by, and before Lucy knew it, Natsu's heavy feet came bounding up her staircase; he shoved open the door, not bothering to knock. He never did knock, and it had never really bothered Lucy—except this time, she'd wished he had.

He froze in the doorway, staring at her.

She was in bed, blankets around her, crying. She hadn't realized when exactly she'd started crying, but all of the dreary feelings about the dance and about Natsu and about _Lisanna_ had sort of overwhelmed her. So, there she was, cheeks wet and eyes puffy and face red, staring up at a surprised Natsu.

His face immediately crumbled into a look of worry and pain, and within seconds he was kneeling on the floor beside her, hand on her shoulder. "Jesus, Luce—what's wrong?"

Lucy closed her eyes, shoving her face into her mattress. Firstly, the fact that she cared _this_ much—enough to cry—about Natsu simply going to the dance with another girl, that bothered her. All this time, her feelings for Natsu...they grew. And now they were at the point where she was crying over him, about the idea of him even _looking_ at a girl other than her. Secondly, everything was worse now that he'd seen her. Not only was she crying over him, but now he was there, with her.

She was so embarrassed.

His warm hands scooped under her chin, tilting her head back up so he could see her. His eyes were dark, but soft; he looked extremely upset seeing her like this.

So concerned and...so _cute_.

"Luce..." He'd whispered, lips turning down at the corners. "What happened? Did you and your dad get into it again?"

Lucy swallowed; her throat felt thick, like something was caught in it. "No, nothing like that." She sucked in a breath. "It's not a big deal."

His big thumb wiped a tear from her cheek; her heart rate increased, and she thanked her lucky stars that he couldn't hear it. Desperate to avoid any hint of conversation about the cause of her tears, she sat up, sniffed, and wiped her eyes. She rubbed any semblance of tears away, her puffy skin the only hint that she'd been upset.

Natsu still looked worried.

Why did he have to do things like that? Why couldn't he just be like a _normal_ friend? One that played baseball with her, but other than that, didn't particularly care much about anything? It only made it worse that he was so concerned about her wellbeing. It only made her yearn for more, when in his eyes, it was strictly friendship.

"Tell me, Luce."

Lucy let out a sigh, the softness in his eyes making her want to stab herself in the jugular. "I'm..." _Upset that you've got another date. Mad that you ditched me. Desperately and hopelessly in love with you, Natsu, and I always have been._ "On my, uh, period."

That shut him up pretty quickly. His dark eyes ran over her face, eyebrows shooting up in surprise; his mouth formed a small circle, but no words came out for a solid minute or so.

"Gotcha," He'd replied, his big hand patting her head. He pulled himself up onto her bed, rolling over her so he was on the open side of it; he grabbed her laptop from the floor, placing it neatly on his lap. Immediately, he logged on—he knew her password—and started searching through the massive amount of movies she had stored on there. He picked something gory, and pressed play.

Lucy being on her period didn't bother much—not nearly as much as other boys his age. If she had been with Gray, or even Gajeel, and mentioned something about her period, they'd act as if they were disgusted, as if she were infected with some contagious disease. But, Natsu...well, he'd encountered Lucy on her period before, and it hadn't scared him off.

The first day she'd gotten it, in grade five, she'd awoken with stained sheets and an awful stomach ache. She'd groaned, grabbing her sheets and tugging them to the laundry room; then, she headed to the bathroom to clean up. Once that was dealt with, she told her father; he overreacted (typical single father) and told her to take the day off of school. He then gave her seven boxes of pads and tampons—he'd been worrying about this day occurring since Layla had died—and made things incredibly awkward. Lucy didn't mind, though. It _was_ awkward.

Dad had headed off to work, and Lucy had gone back to bed, stomach pains worse than she'd ever imagined. She'd known people got cramps, but she'd never realized they were this bad; she put a movie on and lay there in agonizing pain.

Natsu had bursted into her room a while later; he'd frowned at her when she was still in bed. He'd asked her what the hell she was doing—it was a Wednesday, and class started in fifteen minutes—until she'd awkwardly sputtered out that she was sick. He'd said he didn't believe her, that she was faking the whole thing to get out of being his biology partner. Unable to get him off of her back, she'd muttered out the truth, that she'd gotten her period.

'Oh' was all that he'd said, and then he plopped down in bed beside her. He'd taken the day off, too, skipping school without a second thought—which is mother angrily chastised him for later that night. They'd stayed in, watching movies all day long. He'd gone out in the afternoon and bought her a pint of icecream. He got her a hot water bottle to rest on her stomach when the cramps got intense, to help ease her.

As she'd grown older, she'd adjusted to womanhood, like most girls did. She'd learn how to cope with it, learn how to adjust to her cramps. But still, whenever there was a bad day and she was in far too rough of shape to sit in school for six and a half hours, she'd stay home—Natsu by her side.

So, seeing her sobbing in her bed, saying it was period issues, that didn't really phase him. He'd learned not to ask much about it, knowing that if he did, he'd most likely get a smack from Lucy. So, he pulled up a movie, angling the laptop so Lucy could see it better.

And that would've been nice, if Lucy weren't absolutely miserable because _god,_ he was so sweet and she wanted to lean over and kiss him, but she couldn't because they were best friends forever and he had a date with another girl to the school dance and everything was ruined.

But, still, as per usual, he'd distracted her. As the movie went on, he'd made his usual dumb jokes; Lucy couldn't help but crack up. By the end of the night, things felt like they were back to normal—just the two of them, laughing and snickering, so incredibly happy just be in each other's company.

At least, it _seemed_ normal. Lucy still had to stifle her thoughts about how cute he was and how her heart jumped when he looked at her. She had to stuff the thoughts about the dance into the back of her mind, because, for god's sake, he was her best friend and she couldn't bear to be miserable when he was sitting in her room eating chocolate with her. So, she pretended she was fine and she laughed when he made a joke and she tried to forget about how absolutely in love with him she was.

They fell asleep, movies still playing, icecream and chocolate melting into the sheets. And Lucy didn't mind, because she was happy—even if it was temporary. She was _glad_ to have such a good friend, even if that meant he never saw her as pretty or beautiful. And she was glad he was there to pick her up when she was down, even if that meant he'd never love her the way she loved him.

At least, that's what she liked to think.


	3. The Dance

The days flew by, and before Lucy knew it, it was the night of the dance. She and Natsu had walked home together, and he'd rambled on and on about how Lisanna was going to look so nice and he was wearing a suit and how they would slow dance. Lucy just nodded along, eyes on the sidewalk, trying not to cry.

He didn't come over that night—too busy getting ready for the dance, he'd said. So Lucy made her way up to her room alone, heart aching and body heavy. Her dad noticed, asking if she was okay; she said she didn't want to talk about it.

She laid in bed and put a movie on.

A couple hours later—the sun was beginning to set—that little can strung over her window sill began to echo out some noise. Without even being aware of it, her lips spread into a grin; she tossed her laptop to the side and headed to the window. She grabbed the can.

"Natsu?" Her eyes flickered to the window across from hers, and instantly, her heart fell.

There he was, wearing a crisp suit. His hair was still messy and his tie was lopsided, but he looked as handsome as ever; he flashed her his little lopsided grin. Any chance of her only having friendly feelings for him vanished within the second.

He spoke into the can on his side. "How do I look, Luce?"

The blonde sucked in a breath, eyes flickering over him again. How could someone be _that_ adorable? Knowing that he was going _like that_ with someone else...it made her stomach drop, as if it were filled with lead. "You look nice."

"You too," He replied sarcastically, looking at her baseball t-shirt and sweatpants. "Aren't you gonna get ready for the dance?"

"Oh," Lucy responded, chest aching. She tried to play it off casually. "Eh, I don't think I'll go."

" _What?_ "

She shrugged, ponytail swishing against her shoulder. "It sounds boring." She hoped he didn't pick up on her lies.

The fact that she was even lying to him in the first place stung her chest a bit—they'd pinky promised to never lie to one another. But what other choice did she have? Tell him the truth? Tell him that she liked him, that she thought he was handsome, and that she wanted him to blow off Lisanna and take _her_ instead?

She could never tell him that. It would ruin everything.

Natsu's face dropped. "You didn't ask anyone?"

"Naw."

"You should still come."

Lucy sighed. "I don't think so, Natsu..."

The silence settled between them, and he changed the topic. "Is my tie straight?"

Lucy gave him a little smile. "Bring it more to your left."

He adjusted it according to her instructions.

"There," Lucy said, voice a bit more showing of her true emotions than she would have preferred. "Perfect."

Natsu glanced back, looking at the clock on his bedroom wall. "Well, I better get going—I'm picking Lisanna up."

They met eyes, and for a split second, Natsu almost looked...sad. Like he understood everything Lucy was feeling. But the instant she'd seen his expression, the instant it had disappeared, his normal cheerful grin plastered on his lips.

"Seeya," Lucy muttered into the can.

"I'll talk to you when I get back!" He said, giving a wave.

And then, he was gone.

Lucy spent the next hour face down into her pillow, talk herself out of a breakdown.

So, she had a major thing for her best friend in the whole wide world, and he had no clue. Not even a hint of an idea. And that was fine. And right now, she was lying in bed feeling like dying and he was out dancing the night away with—and this is a direct quote from pinky himself—' _the cutest girl in school_ '. That quote didn't please Lucy much. What if they slow danced? Could Lucy stand the idea of Natsu's arms tight around some other girl? Or, what if they held hands as he walked Lisanna back to her house? What if, on the porch, they kissed?

Lucy bit her pillow and screamed. A second later, her dad yelled up, asking if she was okay; Lucy said she was fine, said it was a movie she was watching.

This wasn't fair! _Why_ did she have to be so in love with Natsu? _Why_ did Natsu have to be the most popular boy in school? _Why_ did girls have to like him so damn much? And why the hell couldn't he love Lucy back, and make things simple?

Lucy already knew the answer to her own question. Because, she was...well... _Lucy_. The girl who lived next door. Best friend forever. First one to know his secrets. She was the girl that knew exactly which expression he made when he was and she knew exactly what tone of voice he would use when he was even _slightly_ sad. And she knew what his favorite movie was. She knew what music he listened to when he couldn't sleep. She knew every word in his damn vocabulary. She knew he struggled with math but was excellent at social studies; she knew he hated hugs, and only gave them out to the important people. She knew he wanted to be a professional baseball player when he grew up. She knew _everything_.

Because she was Lucy, the best friend. The girl that he loved like a brother.

He viewed her as nothing more than one of the boys. She wasn't even considered female enough to be loved as a _sister_ —no, no, she was like a brother to him. How sick was that?

Maybe she should be honoured by that title. _Brother_. After all, that meant they were pretty close, right?

But that wasn't what she wanted. She didn't _want_ to be his brother—or anyone's brother, for that matter. She wanted to be the girl who made his jaw drop when she walked through the door, or the girl that made him nervous to talk to. She wanted to be the girl that made him worry about what to wear to the school dance.

She was getting angry, now. Angry at herself for becoming the brother, angry at Natsu for viewing her that way.

But her thoughts were cut off by the doorbell ringing; a second later, her dad called her name. It made her frown. She never really had anyone come over other than Natsu, and he just strolled right in without bothering to knock. Who the hell came for her and rang the doorbell?

She dashed down the stairs, surprised to see Gray standing in the doorway, donning a crisp navy suit. Her father returned to the kitchen, door swinging shut behind him.

"Gray?" Lucy sputtered, surprised by how dashing he looked. "What're you doing here?"

He sighed. "I know the girls are supposed to ask the guys to the dance, but my date bailed on me. Stomach flu, or something." He paused, running a hand through his black hair. "Wanna go with me?"

Lucy leaned against the staircase. "Well..."

"Aw, c'mon, Lucy—I know Natsu's going with Lisanna, so you don't have a date."

She frowned. "I could have a date that you don't know about."

Gray gave her a plain look. "Be serious, Lucy."

She flinched. Well, that stung. "Fine. I'll go get changed."

She'd ran up the stairs, grabbed the one and only dress she owned, and brushed her hair out of its ponytail. Her hair was all kinky—she'd had the ponytail in all damn day—so she opted to pull it back up. She tugged some sneakers on—she didn't own a pair of heels or even flats—and went back down the stairs.

Gray snickered when she hit the bottom of the stairs. "Where'd you get your dress?"

Lucy peered down. She didn't think it was _that_ bad. A little frumpy, a little baggy. A little grandmother-ish, but she didn't really own another dress. Her eyes fell to the floor, heart aching a little bit. No wonder Natsu didn't like her—apparently her style wasn't great either.

Lucy swallowed. "Um. The thrift store."

Natsu shook his head, choosing to ignore her comment. "Let's go!"

Lucy told her dad she was heading out to the dance—he'd also given her a judgemental look about her outfit, but stayed silent—and off they went. The house was only an eight minute walk to the school, so they made it there easily; the whole way, they chatted about the baseball team's tryouts for the summer and how they both intended to make it.

They made it to the dance in no time; they swung the front doors open and were instantly hit with the loud music blasting. The place was decorated with blue ribbons and fish plastered on the walls; it was an _Under The Sea_ theme. In the gym, a giant papier-mâché blue whale hung from the ceiling, looming above the kids dancing.

Immediately, Lucy felt disgustingly embarrassed. Every other girl was clomping around in high heels, wearing tight, short dresses that somehow accentuated both their breasts and their long legs; they wore jewelry, were done up in full makeup, had their hair curled. And there Lucy was, in some saggy brown dress that a grandmother had donated to the thrift shop, hair in a ponytail with her sneakers on.

She'd lost Gray in an instant in the thick crowds of teens. It didn't surprise her—she was probably just his back up, someone to say he'd arrived with so he had a pass into the dance. After all, it _was_ the dance where the girls asked the guys, and if he'd arrived date-less, it would be just pathetic.

So, Lucy strode around miserably, spending most of her time beside the snack bar. She wandered around for a bit, watching the girls grind against the boys to some song with so much bass that there might not even be a rhythm. People were making out in the corner sloppily while the teachers who were supposed to supervise ate at the snack bar. In the hall, a girl was crying with her friends because she'd been stood up by her date.

It was kind of a disgusting sight.

But then, the deejay announced that he was slowing things down, and the dance floor cleared to a smaller amount of couples; a soft melody from the 60's—Crimson and Clover— filled the gymnasium. Blue lowlights flashed onto the dancefloor, and Lucy peered out at the couples.

And then, her heart stopped. Painful stabs in her chest erupted, and her hand flew over her lungs, clutching her skin. That heavy feeling—like her stomach was made of lead—spread through her yet again as another horrible wave of sadness hit her like a train.

There, in the middle of the dance floor, was Natsu and Lisanna. His hands were snaked around her waist, and her arms were up around his neck. She looked lovely, wearing a tight pink minidress, as she smiled up at the pink haired boy, their faces close. They both looked incredibly happy as they swayed together in rhythm, eyes bright and cheeks a little red.

And then, in the middle of the song, Natsu leaned in and pressed his lips to Lisanna's.

Lucy's heart stopped completely, and she was left standing there, beside the snack bar, in a daze. She stayed still for a long minute, heart shattering as she watched the boy she loved kiss another girl. And then, her flight instincts cut in, and she was desperate to leave. It was too crowded on the sidelines of the dance floor—she'd have to cut diagonally across the dance space to get to the front door.

Tears welling up in her eyes, she darted through the couples as they swayed to the music. The slow, melodic tune played on, and the tears began to fall; Lucy's heart throbbed, twinges of pain hitting her chaotically.

Halfway across the dance floor, the boy with the pink hair had noticed her. His voice shouted out above the music.

"Luce?" She'd heard him question, voice surprised. "You came!"

Unable to plaster a mask of happiness onto her face, Lucy gave the boy a glance as she ran by; he had let go of his date now, and was looking at Lucy, confusion and worry thick on his face. Lucy closed her eyes, seeing him only making the throbbing in her chest worse; she scrambled by, wanting nothing more than to run away and never come back.

Why did she have to fall in love? It hurt too much.

Lucy ran the whole way home, tears streaming down her cheeks as she outwardly sobbed. She didn't bother to quiet herself as she ran up her porch steps and threw the front door open; she dashed up the stairs to her room and heaved herself onto the bed, grabbing her pillow and stuffing her face into it.

Her father appeared in her doorway seconds later, knocking the doorframe, confusion on his face.

"What happened, Lucy?" He asked once she didn't respond, stepping into the room and kneeling beside her bed.

"It's nothing," She managed to say, voice mumbled by the pillow and interrupted by her shaky cries. "It's stupid."

Jude's expression fell into a frown. "Where's Natsu? He always comes over to cheer you up, and—"

The girls' crying intensified, and Jude got the point.

"So, this is _about_ Natsu, then."

Her wails confirmed his suspicions.

He began to pet the top of her head. "It's going to be okay, sweetheart...You're young. Whether this is a friend thing, or heartbreak...time heals everything. I promise."

Lucy laid there in silence for a while, head still stuffed in the pillow. And she began to think— _really think_ —about Natsu and how she was like a brother to him and how stupid she'd looked in this goddamn dress and how nobody loved her, nobody thought she was pretty enough or cute enough or whatever.

And she sat up and turned to her dad and whispered, "I want to go to that all girl's school." She'd swallowed, her chest getting tighter and tighter by the second. "As soon as possible."

"Oh, Lucy," Jude had said, sighing. "Don't be silly. I know it never interested you, and—"

" _I want to go_ ," She'd spat back. "Please, _please_ send me, dad."

Her father had sat back, unsure. Clearly, this school wasn't Lucy's thing—she wasn't the little princess he'd imagined his daughter would be—but the desperate, sobbing look in her eyes at the moment convinced him. He couldn't say no to that. He couldn't.

Voice somber, he murmured, "I'll make the arrangements. You can probably finish the year there, maybe get into the summer program. Is that okay?"

Lucy nodded her head.

Maybe _there_ , the school where they had specific classes on fashion and makeup and being a proper lady, maybe that would fix her. Maybe that would make her attractive, make her feel like she was worth something.

Maybe that would make her the girl boys _wanted_ , not the ones they saw as a brother.

Lucy had cried herself to sleep after her father left, off to arrange things with the prep school. She'd been awoken later on in the night by her little can telephone; Natsu was on the other end, calling her name. But she stuffed her head under her pillow and went back to bed.

The next day, she didn't answer Natsu's calls on the can phone either. And when he came to the door, her father said she wasn't feeling well, just like she'd asked him to say. Natsu persisted, of course; sickness had never stopped him from visiting before. But Jude gave him a look, one that meant business, and Natsu buggered off, worried sick about his best friend.

Lucy's dad had set everything up with the prep school. She'd be shipped off the next day, her new life at the all girl's school awaiting her. She'd packed her things, all ready to go.

Natsu had called her through the can that night, and she'd answered—but only because she was leaving early tomorrow morning and thought he deserved a goodbye.

"You're sick?" He asked, already knowing it wasn't true.

Lucy sighed. "You could say that."

"Your dad wouldn't let me up today."

"Sorry."

"And you ignored my calls." He seemed hurt.

Lucy didn't meet his gaze from the window opposite hers. "Natsu," She breathed, heart aching just by seeing him. "I'm going away for a while."

"What?" Natsu's voice was low, upset. "Where? How long?"

"To a school, out west, for a couple semesters."

Natsu made a face. "That girls' school your dad kept trying to talk you in to?"

"Yes."

"You're kidding, right?" There was a pause. "Luce, tell me you're joking."

"I just...I need to get away for a little bit, I think."

Another pause, longer this time. The silence was deafening. "Did I...did I do something wrong?"

Lucy choked back a sob, ducking her head so he couldn't see the tears fall from her eyes. Why was this so damn hard? Why couldn't she just love someone else? Or, better yet, why couldn't Natsu love her? It would make everything easier. "It's not you, Natsu. It's me."

"Are you breaking up with me?" He asked, voice shaky. "Friend-wise?"

"No, not breaking up with you." She sucked in a deep breath. "Just...taking a break. I just...I need to leave for a little while. To focus on myself."

"Please don't go," He whispered. "You're my best friend, Luce. What'll I do without you?"

Lucy shrugged. "Play baseball, hang out with the boys more often." She waited a beat. "Go on dates with Lisanna."

"Is _that_ what's—"

She cut him off. "I have to head to bed, Natsu. Early flight tomorrow morning."

"Please!" Natsu cried. "I need you, Luce."

"I'll be back," She'd responded. _But I won't be the same_. "Promise."

Natsu's voice was saturated with misery. "Don't make me wait too long."

"I won't."

Natsu sniffled—Lucy frowned. Was he crying?

"I love you, Luce."

Her heart squeezed, and her stomach felt like it was in knots. "I love you, too, Natsu. Forever."

And that was the last time she spoke to Natsu, until she returned from prep school, nearly seven months later.


	4. Prep School

At first, it had been hard for Lucy to adjust to the prep school.

Firstly, the place was magnificent. It was a castle nestled in the dip between two rocky mountains, perched on the lush, rolling green hills that cascaded down from the cliffs; eventually, these hills dwindled down to a sharp rock face that overlooked the colorful valleys below. A cute little creek made its way down the green hills, eventually pooling into a little pond at the edge of the school's property. It was beautiful, straight out of a greeting card.

But it wasn't the beauty of the school that had shocked Lucy—it was the students.

She'd been introduced to her dorm roommate—a blue haired girl named Levy—who introduced her to a couple of the other girls. They were nice and extremely polite, of course, but there was something about the way they looked at Lucy—the way they eyed her sweatpants, the way they glanced nonchalantly at her messy ponytail—that made her veins flood with embarrassment. Lucy wasn't sure _why_ , but she got the feeling that the girls were a little disgusted by her.

I mean, sure, she was wearing sweatpants and an old hoodie, but was it really _stare worthy?_

Lucy looked at the uniforms all the girls were wearing and cringed inwardly. Navy oxford shoes, short plaid navy skirt, flowy navy top with a beige tie. Lucy and skirts didn't really _work_ —the thought of her thighs being naked and bare and visible kind of made her want to die. But, the outfit was mandatory, and as soon as she received her own she would have no choice but to wear it.

Meanwhile, the girls—Levy, Erza, Juvia and Cana—took Lucy out and showed her the campus. The interior was massive—so large that Lucy knew finding her classes would be struggle daily—but the exterior was even more confusing. There were rose gardens to the left and tennis courts to the right and the pool way in the back, and if you continued down the path lined with lavender, you'd hit the stables, where there was a mandatory riding class each week.

Then, the girls made their way back to the dorms—Lucy wasn't sure how they knew what room was theirs; all of the doors looked the exact same and there were no numbers indicating which room was rich, in fear that it would mess up the extravagant décor, or something—and chatted about what classes were like.

The curriculum was nothing Lucy had ever expected. Sure, she'd read the pamphlets about the school. And yes, she'd known it was sort of a luxury school for rich girls whose parents were too busy to spend time with them. But she'd never expected _this_.

Levy explained that there were regular classes—you know, math, science, history—but that the emphasis within this school was more on behaviour and womanhood. Lucy had frowned, not understanding.

"There's classes on how to behave like a lady," Erza, the redhead, had said. "How to eat, how to sit, how to walk. Those will be the basics that you'll cover in your first semester here. Then, you'll move on. Dance classes, beauty classes, stuff like that. It's really in depth."

Lucy's throat was tight. "Are they mandatory?"

Yeah, she'd come here in the hopes that she'd turn out like a normal girl—but the idea still terrified her. She wasn't good at the girly stuff.

Juvia giggled. "Yes—but don't worry. You'll pick it up quickly."

She didn't. The first two weeks of class were the most stressful thing Lucy had ever undergone; she was bombarded with information about how to cross your legs and how to curl your hair for a formal dinner and how no, sometimes pantyhose _wasn't_ appropriate. She was cramming for fashion tests— _yes, fashion tests_ —and reading books about speaking with a lady-like tone. She didn't understand a thing about what she was learning but she was desperately trying to get by.

Luckily, her friends were helpful and fairly understanding. They helped her study, helped her understand, quizzed her on fashion and makeup and hairstyles.

And, slowly yet surely, Lucy started to pick up on it. After a couple weeks, she figured out exactly how to curl her hair so it had volume but didn't look like a lion's mane; she knew how to apply foundation so that it didn't crease when she smiled. She figured out the difference between an A-line skirt and a skater; she was beginning to understand how to speak politely yet firmly, in a way that demanded attention but wasn't rude.

And, as the months went by, she began to change. She no longer stuck out in her group of friends; she wasn't the weird tomboy anymore. Now, she was confident in the short plaid skirt; her hair was long and wavy rather than pulled up messily into a ponytail. She aced her fashion tests, she aced her behavioral tests. She was doing exceptionally well—better than any of her teachers had expected. When the semester ended, she was the top of every class; in her group of friends, she was the one that shone the brightest.

Lucy finished her first semester and stayed for the summer period. There weren't any of the strictly educational classes, but girls who stayed behind were welcome to continue taking behavioral or beauty classes. Schedules varied slightly and there was more free time, so the girls could go horse-back riding or even spend time at the campus spa for hours on end.

Levy stayed the summer too, and the two girls had a blast. They'd go to the spa and get a facial, then head over to class and learn what was upcoming in runway fashion; they'd study New York Fashion Week looks and bicker about which celebrity wore the polka dot mini better.

And bit by bit, the little Lucy who played in the mud and could hit a baseball farther than any boy began to fade into the background. Now, her skin was radiant and her nails were clean and trimmed, and any thoughts she'd ever had about feeling awkward and out of place were long gone.

Here, with the girls, she finally fit in, and the thought made her happy. She didn't feel stupid anymore. She didn't feel like the ugly girl that no one gave a rat's ass about. She was pretty and she was happy and she finally belonged to something. And that was the whole point—that's why she'd come. Because she was sick of being that girl who had ugly clothes or that girl who followed the boys around. She was sick of being like a little brother to people. Now, she was the star of the show. When she entered a room, people looked at her in awe. It was what she'd always wanted.

So, when she got that little aching feeling in the back of her chest—the one that thought about the old days, the mud fights, the sleepovers with a particular pink haired boy—she ignored it, stuffing it to the back of her mind where it wouldn't bother her.

Because she fit in here. This was who she was, now.

And by the time summer drew to a close and Lucy's time at the prep school was ending, she felt sad. She didn't _want_ to leave. She was comfortable there, happy with how things had turned out. But she missed her father and she knew it was time for her to return home, so she packed her things without complaint.

Levy cried when Lucy's car arrived to take her to the airport; the two promised to stay in contact, to email each other every day so they could chat and gossip.

The flight was long and bumpy, but the second she stepped off the plane a huge grin spread across her lips. Because her dad was there, and he looked so surprised when he saw her, and his eyes got wet in an instant (after all, she _did_ look exactly like her mother, now). And they hugged and chatted the whole way home, and everything felt perfect again.

They'd gotten home late and Lucy had collapsed into her bed, exhausted from travelling. She was thankful she had a couple days off until class began—her father had enrolled her into her old high school—so she could rest up and adjust.

Lucy fell asleep instantly, sleep enveloping her. She fell asleep so quickly that she didn't even think about the house next door, or the boy who lived there. She never even noticed what was beyond her bedroom window.

She didn't even think about the little can that still danged from her windowsill into her bedroom, an echo of the past.


	5. Hottie

She'd spent the next two days cleaning out her closet.

It was a big ordeal, honestly. In order to fit all of her new clothes—designer shoes, handbags, miniskirts and low cut dresses—she had to chuck all of her old clothes from before she headed off to the academy. She'd put it off for a while, opting instead to watch a couple sappy romantic comedies in her bed. But, eventually, she got down to business, pushing her sleeves up and getting to work.

Her old clothes were horrendous. How had she never noticed? She'd owned four jean jackets, for god's sake! _Four!_ That was practically sin. And the amount of sweatpants she'd horded was simply appalling. It took her hours, sorting through every single piece of clothing she'd ever had, and by the time she was done, Lucy was absolutely horrified with herself.

But then, she found that damn dress. That ugly brown sack that she'd gotten from that thrift shop so long ago. The dress she'd worn to the school dance in grade ten, where everything had fallen apart. And for the longest time, she just fucking stared at the dress, glaring at it as if it were her worst enemy.

Because it wasn't until she saw that dress that she realized how much she'd changed. Not only fashion-wise (obviously) but as a person, in general. She'd stopped playing sports and she'd forgotten about how much she used to love baseball. She had forgotten all of those nights out with Natsu, late out at the diamond, cracking balls out past the fence. She'd forgotten everything about her past, everything about who she was. And the dress brought that all back—it reminded her of her old self, of Natsu, of her childhood. And the memories made her heart ache, and she was sad, but she wasn't really sure why.

So, she didn't put the dress with all of her other old clothes. She didn't throw it into the garbage can. No, instead, she carefully hung it back up and placed it in her closet, stuffed way at the back. Hidden, but still in there somewhere.

Just like her old self, the one that loved to play in mud and hold frogs and wasn't afraid to kill a spider. _Hidden, but still in there somewhere_.

She moved on, finishing tossing every other ugly piece of clothing in the closet. Once it was nice and empty, Lucy proceeded putting all of her new clothing that she'd accumulated while at prep school back into the closet space. She had way more clothes now—it didn't fit; she had to load some into the dresser, which she had always used as a television stand for her laptop when she watched a movie—and they were much more attractive, in her opinion.

Lacy tops and designer dresses and miniskirts and heels, all crowded into the tiny closet space. Once she was finished, she sat back with a smile, and then headed to the bathroom to unload her ridiculous amount of makeup and beauty products.

When the day came where Lucy would return to her old highschool, she remained calm. She got up early, ate a full breakfast to give her energy for the day, washed her face, did her makeup and curled her hair into dainty little waves. She stared at her closet for half an hour until she'd decided upon a pink and white lace frock dress with a little teardrop cut out on the bosom to show off a little cleavage. It was tight to her body and just short enough to show off her amazing gams—just how she liked to dress. Cute, yet hot at the same time.

And, a few feet away, in the house next door, Natsu was still fast asleep.

He hadn't known Lucy had returned—he hadn't left his house all weekend (it was his way of prepping for the new semester; he liked to waste away his last few days of summer freedom by being a complete lazy bum) and she'd never opened her curtains, so he wouldn't have noticed her presence anyways. Totally oblivious to the fact that his old best friend forever had finally returned, the boy slept in a little too late, making him dash to the shower twenty minutes after he had originally planned to.

After a quick shower and a bite of toast, the boy was running down the sidewalk, hair a mess and messenger bag flying behind him. He'd passed by the Heartfilia's house, surprised to see Jude's car outside—but then, thinking about Jude led to thoughts of Lucy and he shut down the topic in his own inner dialogue. He didn't like to think of her—it hurt too much.

So he jogged to school, and by the time he stumbled through the front doors, he was heaving out heavy breaths. Gray, Gajeel and Laxus were waiting for him at his locker, snorting at how out of breath he was.

"You're never gonna be in the MLB if you can't even run to class."

Natsu rolled his eyes. "As long as I can bat it out of the park every time, I won't have to run." He let out a heavy breath. "What class you guys in?"

Gajeel grinned. "We checked the board. We're all in the same homeroom."

"Nice," Natsu said with a smile. Now, they'd be able to goof around all year together. His dark eyes flickered over to Gray, who was oddly focused on the crowds of teens surrounding them. "What's wrong with Gray?"

Gray didn't take his eyes off of a group of girls across the hall, but replied to Natsu's question. "Trying to scope out my next target."

"Ugh," Natsu groaned. "Would you quit that? You have no game—quit trying to pick up girls. Girls don't like you."

Gray snorted. "Says you."

"Girls like me!"

Gray turned, finally meeting Natsu's glare. "Have you lost your virginity? No? That's what I thought."

That seemed to shut the pink haired boy up, and the other boys laughed.

After a moment, Natsu spoke up. "So, whose the new conquest, then?"

"Haven't really decided, ye—" Gray began, but his voice cut off suddenly. In fact, the entire hallway had sort of gone silent—a true anomaly, considering there were dozens of teenagers. Gray's eyes were wide and after a long second, he muttered, "Who is _that?_ "

Natsu smirked, laughing at his friend; then, his face erupted into a frown when he noticed the rest of the hallway falling silent. He followed Gray's glance, peering over the crowds towards the entrance to the school.

It was a girl standing by the front doors, brown eyes flickering around unsure as she assessed her surroundings. She didn't seem to notice that every single person in the hallway had their eyes trained on her; her face was expressionless but somehow still seemed to convey a twinge of sly happiness. She stood there for a long moment, and then her body angled itself to the left; her long legs pushed her forward.

Instantly, everyone in the hallway scrambled to the sides, opening up a long gap the entire hallway's length for her to walk—her very own little catwalk.

And boy, did she ever walk it. Long tanned legs sent her gracefully trotting down the walkway; with every step, she was pulling herself closer and closer to where Natsu and the boys were huddled against a locker.

The hallway was silent, but the second the girl strode past people, they began to whisper. Bit by bit, group by group, more whispers and words rumbled through the corridor. They talked about her—boys were whispering about how hot she was while the girls commented on her pretty dress or perfect hair or incredible confidence.

The way she walked down the hall immediately _demanded_ attention—and she loved it. Her cheeks were a little red from everyone watching her and not-so-subtly hissing comments about her once she'd made her way past, but she had a little grin on her perfectly glossed lips that hinted that she was proud, understanding of how good she looked.

And it was like a movie. Hot chick walking down the hallway, hair bouncing along. Natsu could practically hear music playing along, scoring the scene that played out before him; the song had a heavy drum beat, matching every step she took, and there were guitar solos because she was _so hot_ that she deserved a slo-mo rock and roll entrance scene.

Her dress was tight and her legs went on forever and her hair was long and blonde and shiny, and yeah, okay, maybe Natsu was staring at her. But he was a hormonal teenage boy—what could he do?

The girl was passing them, now, and her brown eyes flickered to the left, looking the boys' way.

Gray's hand clutched his chest like he'd been shot just by meeting her gaze; he let out a groan and shook his head. "Holy shit, she's hot."

Natsu met her eyes, and for a split second, his cheeks burnt a little red because someone who looked like _that_ had looked at _him_. But then, the familiarity of those eyes haunted him, and he frowned at the girl as she sauntered past, headed down the hallway. He turned, keeping his shoulders square with her position, face still messed up into a frown.

And then it hit him, as she turned right and stepped into the principal's office. He'd caught another glimpse of her eyes—she'd peered back at the hallway, everyone staring at her, and smirked before turning into the room—and it had hit him. _Hard_.

Natsu took a step forward, and the music stopped and everything started moving full speed again and he couldn't feel his fucking toes. " _Luce?_ " He'd hissed, eyebrows pulled down over his eyes and mouth falling open. He stared down the hallway, where she'd disappeared into the office.

The boys frowned at him, his words snapping them out of their own fantasies with the hottie that just caught their eye.

"What?" Gajeel asked.

"That was…"Natsu swallowed, turning back to his friends, eyes wide. "That was Luce."

"Luce? As in Lucy?" Gray looked at his friend. "As in _your_ Lucy?"

Natsu stumbled over himself, stuttering out the words. "That was…her."

"You're losing it, dude," Laxus said, smirking. "Lucy was little and short and wore a ponytail and sweatpants every day."

"Yeah," Gajeel added in, frowning.

"She was my best friend," Natsu mumbled, "I'd know her if I saw her."

"Wait, wait, wait," Gray spat, shaking his hands. "You're saying _that chick_ was the little Lucy that followed you around everywhere?"

He frowned. "She didn't follow me around—we went everywhere. _Together_."

"Whatever. That was her?"

"Yes!" Natsu snapped. "It was her."

"Well, shit," Gray murmured. "Guess I just found my next target."

If Natsu wasn't completely flustered by Lucy's sudden presence—not to mention, drastically different appearance—he would've been annoyed by Gray's comment. But he was too busy to listen, too wrapped up in confusion and questions and not understanding what the hell was going on.

And maybe his heart was still hammering, and yeah, okay, maybe he was rocking a half chub ever since she'd strutted down the hallway. But that was beside the point.

But the bell rang and cut off his thoughts and he stumbled to class, ignoring Gray's comments about Luce's tits or ass. He took his seat, his whole world still kind of spinning.

Why did seeing her make him act like this? He slumped down on his desk, already knowing the answer.

She was his best friend, and she'd left him all alone, and he'd missed her so fucking much. It wasn't easy watching your friend walk out of your life, not giving a call or writing a letter or anything. And it sure as hell wasn't easy watching them come back. Especially when they gave you a glance and their eyes were absolutely dead, like they didn't recognize you and you meant nothing to them.

His chest stung at the look she'd given him when their eyes had locked. At that point, he hadn't recognized her—after all, she looked totally different, could she really blame him?—but he looked the same. Same old Natsu. And she hadn't even had a spark in her eyes, not even a hint of recognition.

He was nothing to her, and that was clear by the absolute emptiness in her eyes as she'd locked eyes with him and then continued walking by.

Then, the teacher began to talk and the class went quiet as he introduced himself and the subject and whatnot. But he was cut off just a few minutes into his spiel by a quiet knock at the door; the entire class turned to look at who it was.

And there she was, standing there, cheeks just as pink as her dress.

She spoke, and the sound of it sent shivers down Natsu's spine. That was his Lucy, alright. She sounded different—she lifted the ends of her sentences and her pitch was higher and she spoke with astounding confidence—but still had that hint of little Luce in it.

"Sorry I'm late—I was talking to the principal." She gave a charming smile to the teacher.

He smiled back, cheeks going a bit red. She had a way about her that immediately charmed the pants off of people, clearly demonstrated by her ability to make Mr. Rutherford—a fifty year old man—squirm in his seat and blush. "Ah—um, yes." He cleared his throat. "He told me you'd be joining us. Class, this is Lucy. Lucy, this is everyone."

They all just stared at her, and Lucy gave a little wave with the flick of her wrist; again, her cheeks went red, but she didn't seem flustered in the slightest. No, her blushes weren't embarrassment—they were coordinated cuteness, pulled off in the most perfect way to make boys' hearts flutter and jeans get tight.

She went to an open desk—the one in the back corner—and she moved so gracefully it looked like she was dancing to her destination.

Class resumed and everyone turned back and sort of forgot about her presence for the time being, but Natsu didn't. Because he couldn't. That was his best friend back there, the one he'd thought about every day for a year, longing for the days where she was there to make him feel better and watch movies with him and do everything with.

And he wasn't sure why, but he was a little upset. Upset that she hadn't come back totally the same—a little part of him had been expecting her return to be her romping into his room and tackling him and asking him to go play ball. But there she was, all dolled up, wearing heels and a dress and looking all beautiful.

He was happy she was back. But mad that she hadn't told him. And upset that she wasn't the little Lucy he loved. And extremely hurt that she hadn't even recognized him in the hall.

But mostly, he was nervous. She was beautiful and classy and the talk of the school and he was just _Natsu_ , same little idiot he'd always been. What if she wasn't impressed by him anymore? What if she thought he was old news, someone from her past, and that was it?

The idea made his knees feel wobbly, and he turned to his textbook, refusing to give even the slightest of glances towards the back of the room, knowing that the sight of her would put him in an even worse state.


	6. Old Days

The day school day had dragged on, and Natsu spent the entire time thinking about Lucy.

Had she seen him, sitting at the back of the class? Or had she caught sight of him when the bell rang and the students dispersed, heading to the next class on their individual schedules? Had she seen him at lunch, sitting with the boys in the cafeteria? Had a single _thought_ about him even flashed through her mind? Had she forgotten him completely?

He never had the opportunity to bump into her or even make eye contact; the timing was off. Nothing worked. His hands were permanently sweaty, knowing she was there and near him but not with him. And yeah, maybe the fact that she looked as happy as a clam, his existence not even on her radar—maybe it bugged him, just a little.

So, he'd moped around all day. And when class ended and the bell rang for dismissal, he'd slowly made his way to his locker. And when the boys asked him to play ball, he'd passed; he was too irritated, to bothered by Lucy's presence to hit a ball—all he'd do is strike out.

When he left the school, he watched as Lucy bounced over to Jude's car, which was awaiting out front; they sped off, headed towards home. Natsu let out a grumble of annoyance, and then began the walk home.

By the time he'd made it to his house, he was even grumpier than he'd originally been. Seeing Jude's car parked outside of the Heartfilia's house only reiterated the irritation in Natsu's chest, and he ducked his head, trying not to think of her.

He unlocked his front door and stepped inside, not hesitating to jog up the stairs to his room; he let out a sigh and chucked his bag on the ground, running a big hand through his messy pink locks. His hand dragged down and he wiped it over his face as he let out a groan, one that reflected the aches in his chest.

And then his dark eyes flickered up to his window, and for the first time in a while, someone was looking back from across the gap.

His heart stopped and he blinked at her. She blinked back, just as surprised. They stood there, in their respective rooms, staring at each other oddly.

Then a shy little smile burst onto her lips and she stepped forward, kneeling at her windowsill like the old days; her elbows flew up and leaned against the wood, and her eyes looked at him expectantly. She reached down and grabbed the little can that dangled into her room, and she spoke into it; the sound travelled along the string and came out, rough and scratchy, through Natsu's can. "Hi, there."

Natsu's chest throbbed at the sight of her, right there, finally looking at him. And it was just like the old days, where they'd talk through the window for hours because one of them had a nightmare or they just couldn't sleep. The memories slammed into him, shocking him for a long few seconds, and then he knelt down at his window, grabbing his can.

"You're back," He said, stating the obvious. His voice shook and his hands were sweaty and he nervously ran a hand through his hair, making it a little sweaty, too.

"Yeah," She breathed into the can. "Got back a few days ago."

Up close, it was clear how different she looked. Perfect skin, perfect lips, perfect eyebrows. Every detail on her face was perfect, like she'd been photoshopped permanently. She was ravishing, and looking at her made Natsu's head dip shyly. Still, beneath all that makeup and her giant hair, there was something that still hinted to her identity. Something she couldn't get rid of or grow out of was still completely and definitely Lucy, and he clung to that missing link.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Didn't come see me."

Lucy let out a little huff of breath into her can, and her eyes dropped nervously. There was a weird tension in the air. "Sorry, I just—thought you'd be out playing baseball, or something—and I didn't want to intrude, and…"

He gave her a soft smile. "It's okay. You don't have to explain yourself."

She sighed, eyes dropping to her free hand. "It's just…it's weird coming back here, after leaving so…suddenly."

Natsu wanted to ask her why she'd left him so abruptly, why she'd sped off to go to some prep school she'd never wanted to go to before, but he held his tongue. He didn't want to be rude. He didn't want to pry. Especially now, because the tension in the air made it crystal clear that they weren't picking up where they'd left off—she felt like a stranger, now.

But still, seeing her there and holding the can in his hand sent a ripple of memories down his spine, and he couldn't stop the words before they were out.

"I really missed you, Luce."

And she was quiet for a second, her brown eyes flickering up to meet his. Her expression softened, and her stiff shoulders relaxed a bit at the sound of her nickname. And her chest was beating quickly and heavily. "I missed you too, Natsu," She responded, and it wasn't a lie.

She'd had fun at prep school. She'd changed drastically, adjusted to a life filled with flowers and lace and classes about fashion and makeup. But during her time there, especially at the start of her stay, the memories of Natsu and the baseball diamond and the pond out back hit her hard. As her time at the school had worn on, these little flashes of memories lessened and lessened until she rarely thought about home.

But being here, being back in this spot, looking at him…it brought them all back. It felt like there were two versions of her battling it out inside of her heart, trying to get top spot: old Lucy and new Lucy. And right now, seeing that familiar face and hearing that familiar voice—although it was quite a bit deeper now—was giving old Lucy the advantage.

She shook it off, trying to focus on the person before her.

His cheeks were a little pink, now—they matched his hair—and he was looking down shyly. Her heart stuttered, seeing him like that, all flustered and sort of upset and cute.

She froze, muscles tensing up, once she realized what she'd just said to herself.

 _Cute?_

No, no—she'd been here before. Fall desperately in love with the best friend, feel the pain and the hurt when he takes some other chick to the dance. She didn't want to go there again. That's why she'd left in the first place, wasn't it? Because she was sick of being the girl next door, the one who is left behind and is seen as a little brother? And if she went down this road, that's exactly what she'd end up being— _again_.

So she tucked that thought into the back of her mind, refusing to allow herself to think it ever again. He wasn't cute. He was _Natsu_ , her next door neighbor and old best friend.

Or was he still considered her best friend? She wasn't sure. Things had been kind of tense up until this point, but she didn't really blame either one of them for being awkward—it had been a while. But, he'd said he'd missed her and she'd said it back and now the air was sort of calm and comfortable, and maybe things would be okay.

"I saw you at school," Natsu said, a smirk on his lips. "You didn't see me at all, did you?"

Lucy frowned. "You did? I looked for you, but I couldn't see you anywhere."

The boy started to laugh, and her frown deepened.

"What's so funny?" Lucy asked, eyes narrowing at him.

"Luce." Natsu snickered. "We have first block together. You seriously didn't see me? I have pink hair, for god's sake."

She couldn't help but grin, a reaction to his bubbly laughter. "Are you serious? You're kidding me, right?"

"I kid you not."

Lucy shook her head. "Am I really that blind?"

"Apparently."

"Well, you could've come and said hello, dumbass!"

The boy shrugged. "I was too shy. Besides, Gray was with me, and if I'd come up to you he would've taken that as his cue to ask you on a date—which you don't want, by the way."

Lucy made a face. " _Gray?_ Ask me on a date? Ha. That's funny."

Natsu nodded. "Oh no—he couldn't stop talking about you all day. He thinks your hot."

Her cheeks went a little red, but she ignored it. "I vaguely remember Gray being the one to tell me to quit dressing like a grandpa, so I'm gonna have to go ahead and not believe you."

The boy snorted. "Well, you don't dress like a grandpa now."

"Thanks to the fashion classes at the prep school."

Natsu made a face. "Fashion classes?"

"Yeah, it was a mandatory course. They had tons of stuff like that. Fashion classes, beauty classes, 'how to be a prim, proper and ladylike' classes. Things like that."

Natsu's eyes flickered around Lucy, looking at her hair and her dress and desperately trying to avoid her rather obvious cleavage (because he was a gentleman). "No wonder you're such a girly girl now."

In any other situation, she would've laughed the comment off—but coming from Natsu, that kind of meant something. It meant she'd been successful in achieving her goals—being seen as a girl in the eyes of her best friend! Success! And normally, she would've gracefully continued on the conversation.

But she'd hyped it up so much in her mind. She'd wanted to be girly to prove a point to the people here; she'd wanted to be girly to show them what they'd overlooked this entire time. And she'd done it. But now, sitting right in front of the boy that (unknowingly) broke her heart, she felt more nervous than ever.

All of those confidence classes she'd taken at the prep school, all of those courses about being dominant and in control and _strong_ —they all went down the drain. At school today, they'd come in handy—all eyes had been on her, and she'd loved it. But now, talking to Natsu, she felt like she'd fucking travelled backwards in time.

She was just a little tomboy with a ponytail, looking through her eyelashes, cheeks red. And that annoyed her. It _really_ annoyed her. She wanted to be strong and confident and in control. She wanted to be that elegant goddess she was in front of anyone else. But she wasn't, not with him, because he knew who she actually was. And it was annoying.

"Yeah," Lucy said, brushing it off. "Prep school kind of took over."

He gave her a polite smile. "I think you look nice."

"Why, thank you." Inside, she was dying. But she kept the mask up, gave him a charming smile, and continued on. "So, how have you been?"

Natsu told her about his year—he was prepping to try out for the provincial baseball team in a couple months, and see where that lead. They jabbered on about that for a while, falling into a comfortable rhythm, and for a while it almost felt like old times, where they chatted late into the night.

They talked through the cans for hours, until Lucy began to yawn; Natsu smiled at her, and with a sigh, told her to go to bed. She'd hesitated, saying no, she didn't need to, but nearly fell asleep mid-sentence a few seconds later. Natsu snorted at her, telling her to go to sleep. She reluctantly agreed, and they waved goodnight, and hung up their cans.

She'd smiled as she went to bed that night. They'd talked like they were best friends still, and that sort of meant the world to her. Sure, she'd left and went to prep school because he'd broken her heart and she'd felt she wasn't good enough for him and all of that, but she was glad he still wanted to be her friend upon her return. Lucy and Natsu…they just fit. They were meant to be together, as friends. They were soul mates. And she was overjoyed that he wasn't upset by how different she was or mad that she'd left—they were just like they'd always been. A little timid, but still best friends.

And Natsu had flopped into his bed, stuffing his face into his pillow, trying to hide his own grin.

Lucy was back. Different, but still his Lucy. He could live with the changes. He didn't care if she had makeup on or if her hair was long now. It didn't matter to him. His friend was back—his best friend, the only friend he'd really ever connected with.

He prayed silently that things would be the same as before, that nothing would change between them.

He'd fallen asleep a little while later, after eating supper with his father. But in the middle of the night, he was rudely awoken by a sound hissing out of the can on his window sill. He'd groaned, the sound surprising him; it had been so long since he'd heard it. He crawled to the can, putting it to his ear as he listened.

" _Natsuuuuu_ ," A whisper came from the can. "Wake up, dorkface. I can't sleep. Wake uuuuup."

Natsu laughed. "I'm here." His voice was deep and rough, groggy.

"Ack!" She'd cried, surprised. "Jesus—that scared me. You know I've been talking into this thing for like, a half hour, waiting for you to show up?"

"Really?"

"Yes. I can't sleep. Help."

Warmth spread through his muscles at the idea of Lucy being here, calling him in the middle of the night, needing his help. "Get a drink of water."

"Did that already."

"Watch a movie."

"Then I'll never sleep!" She cried. "Let's do something."

He thought for a second. "Wanna go to the baseball diamond?"

She made a face. "Natsu, this is hardly the time for _sports_."

"Not to play, dummy. To lay down in the middle and look at the stars, like we used to."

"Oh." Her voice was quiet. "Sure."

And so, they did. They walked the whole way to the diamond in their pyjamas—Natsu's sweats and t-shirt, and Lucy in her silk bottoms and delicate tank top—and laid down in the grass, sprawling out and looking at the stars.

They stayed there for a while, and everything felt… _right_. Like this was what they were supposed to be doing.

Lucy was glad she came back, and she was glad she had a friend like Natsu to come back to.

Natsu begged the universe to never take Lucy away from him again, because laying here with her and talking about stars and aliens and the universe meant more to him than any second playing ball with the boys. She was the best listener, the best person to talk to, and he never wanted to lose her again.

He thanks his lucky stars that he'd knocked on her front door that day so long ago.

And, without warning, they'd both fallen asleep there. Their faces smushed up against the grass, their legs touching just a hint, they blacked out, spending the night in the grass. Just like the old days.


	7. Homer

"Luce. Luce, wake up."

Lucy flinched away from the sounds, curling up tighter into her blankets. She was uncomfortable and her bed was really fucking hard and she was freezing cold, but she was way too tired to get up. She wouldn't be able to function at school with such a low level of energy; she'd have to skip it today.

Something nudged her. "Holy fuck— _Luce_! Wake up!" The voice was impatient, now.

"Shaddup," She murmured back, not opening her eyes.

She could hear stifled laughter. "Lucy, I'm serious. You really need to wake up."

Lucy frowned. "I'm tired, Natsu."

"I know you're tired. But have you forgotten where we are?"

She pondered his sentence for a couple long moments, thinking about it. What was that supposed to mean? Oh—right. She'd hung out with him last night, when she couldn't sleep. They'd gone for a walk, and laid down in the middle of the old baseball diamond and watched the stars, just like they used to when they were kids.

Her brown eyes snapped open when the realization hit her.

They hadn't left. They'd fallen asleep in the grass, on the field. They were still there.

A pink haired boy was standing over her, leaning over so that his face was close to her own; his lips were twisted up into a sly smirk, and he watched her with amusement. "Morning, sunshine."

Lucy pushed herself forward, and Natsu stepped back, still grinning down at her. "Jesus!" She hissed, glancing around. Cars drove by on the nearby street; kids were on the sidewalk pointing at them. "What time is it?"

He shrugged. "I dunno—there's school busses goin' around, so I figure it's just about time for school."

"Oh." Lucy nodded for a moment, and then another realization hit her. "Oh my god—I have to get home before school!"

Natsu made a face. "I don't think we have time to go back."

Lucy glared at the ground, appalled that she'd let this happen. "I have to get ready! I have to shower, and do my hair, and do my makeup, and pick out an outfit…"

"Luce—we have like five minutes. It's an eight minute walk. You'll never make it in time."

She looked up at Natsu, and he blinked down at her. Then, she realized that he was staring right at her—before she was all beautified. Her hands flew up to her face, covering herself. "Gah—don't look at me."

He gazed at her, head cocking to the side in confusion. "Why not?"

Lucy peeked through her fingers, cringing when she noticed him still watching. "Look away!"

Natsu obeyed her, eyes turning up to the clouds. He was still confused. "I don't get it."

Once she was satisfied he wasn't looking at her, she dropped her hands. "My hair's probably a mess, and—oh, god, I'm not wearing makeup. No one deserves to see that."

Natsu's eyebrows tugged down, annoyed. "I've seen you without makeup since you were five years old."

Lucy hauled herself up to a standing position. "Yeah, well, not anymore."

That bothered him. "Why do you have to wear makeup?"

She sighed, grabbing his wrist and tugging him along. She fully intended to get cleaned up before entering the school—there was no way she was walking in all greasy, stinky and wearing her pyjamas. "So I look pretty."

He walked along with her, eyes still on the clouds, obeying her orders. She navigated, walking him around holes in the sidewalk or around corners they had to dip into. He blinked at Lucy's response, still not getting it. "You're already pretty."

Lucy pressed her lips together, thankful that Natsu couldn't see how red her face was. She tried to hide the sheepish smile on her face. "Prettier with makeup."

Natsu's eyes flickered down, and he pulled her back, stopping their forward progression. Lucy turned, expression filled with surprise, seeing the seriousness on Natsu's face. "Don't say that."

Cheeks going red, she mumbled, "Okay," and continued on towards home, him close behind.

After a few quiet minutes, Natsu sighed. "We're never gonna make it to school on time, y'know."

"I know. Worth it, though."

"Let's just not go!"

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "You wanna skip?"

He winked at her; she tried to stop her heart from having a spasm. "Yes."

Lucy shrugged. "Okay, hooligan. Let's skip."

And so, they did. They still went back to Lucy's house—she refused to go without showering—and Natsu laid on her bed and played on her laptop till she had finished.

Seeing him laying on her bed flooded her mind with memories of her past. She'd usually be in the bathroom after a day of running around, putting a bandaid on a bloody knee or digging a sliver out of her palm, and he'd be right there, flopped down on her bed, waiting.

The memories made her smile at first—but then, she began to frown. She thought about the memories in more depth. They were happy, on the outside, but the further you got into the memories, the more they began to sting.

They'd play baseball and have sleepovers and whatnot, and she'd spent every single second of the day thinking about Natsu and how great he was and how cute he was. She'd been totally infatuated with him, and he'd clearly not had a clue. But all of those memories, they were all tarnished by those unreciprocated feelings.

Every baseball game, every day at the pond, every adventure they'd ever gone on—all of those memories were ruined. Because no matter what they did, she'd still gone home every night and sighed heavily and dreamt about dating Natsu. And, as Lucy now knew, he'd broken her heart and sent her packing.

The more she thought about the memories—now, every single one of them tainted—the more a fire grew in her belly. She'd been ignored and treated like a little brother her entire friendship with Natsu, and she'd left in order to not be seen like that ever again. She didn't _want_ to be the little brother to anyone anymore, she wanted to be more than that.

And so, Lucy decided that she was going to be as innocently sexy as possible. Nothing drastic, of course—she wasn't trying to seduce him. No, she just wanted him to _want_ her. Revenge for ignoring her all of those years. So, she'd push it. Make herself as attractive as possible. Be as adorable as she could. And if he wanted her, if he gave her a yearning look or anything like that, she'd know her change was successful.

Maybe it was mean, but she didn't really care. She wanted to know she had changed; she wanted to know that she had the ability to make men swoon at her feet. But there was one boy in particular that she wanted to fall at her feet—the one that she felt like she had to prove herself to.

The pink haired boy on her bed.

So, she came out an hour later, looking absolutely ravishing—hair clean and curly, makeup blended to perfection—in just a towel.

Natsu cringed instantly, trying his best to play it off cool. Yeah, sure, something like this wouldn't have phased him a couple years back—it was Lucy, for god's sake—but now, after her being gone for so long…yeah, it made him blush. But he pretended it didn't bother him, and continued playing on her laptop, hoping he looked chill as fuck.

Meanwhile, Lucy was absolutely dying inside. Jesus, he barely even looked at her—had he even noticed she just in a fucking towel? God, it was cold out here. She mentally noted that she shouldn't bend down—if she did, she'd moon Natsu.

Why didn't he care? Lucy wasn't one to toot her own horn, but she wasn't _awful_ looking, not after all those damn classes at the prep school. So why the hell was he just looking at the laptop, looking… _bored?_

Lucy's face flushed with anger and frustration and embarrassment. But, she was determined to make him crack, make him notice her in the way he never had in the past.

"Hey, Natsu?" She called out, voice dainty and soft.

He swallowed. "What's up?" He glanced over, blinking twice when he saw Lucy—in the towel. _Fuck_ —holding up two dresses.

"Help me pick?" Lucy said, blinking her eyelashes at him.

Natsu stared at her for a minute, face blank, then looked to the dresses in her hands. After another long, empty glance at each dress, he mumbled out a few words, then returned to the laptop. "The blue one."

Lucy's jaw dropped, shocked. Here she was in a fucking _towel_ —which, by the way, was awfully short on her thigh—asking him to pick what outfit she wore, and he'd barely cared.

Maybe he was gay? Like, actually? Was she really _so_ unattractive that she couldn't even get _anything_ out of the guy?

But him not being attracted to women wouldn't explain him kissing Lisanna at the dance so long ago, so she let the idea slide.

Grumpy, she headed to the bathroom and changed into the dress Natsu picked, frowning the entire time. When she returned, he was still playing on her laptop; she flopped down on the bed beside him, making a point of jutting her chest out directly in his eyeline.

The boy didn't even _accidentally_ look at her rather obvious cleavage; no, instead, his eyes flickered directly up to hers. She wasn't sure if she should be proud of him for being so respectful or be annoyed with him.

"So, what you wanna do today?" Natsu asked, chipper.

She wanted to die. "How about a movie?"

"Sounds good to me." Natsu tapped into her laptop, knowing exactly where to locate all of the movies; she always downloaded them and saved them in the exact same spot. A couple seconds later, he frowned. "They're all sappy ones."

"Oh." Lucy blinked. They always used to watch action and thriller movies—she'd ditched those and opted for romcoms once she was introduced to her prep school friends. "Shoot. Sorry. I didn't think to get some action-y ones."

He shoved the laptop in her direction. "You pick. I don't know what's good."

For a second, Lucy felt bad. But then, she realized this was another moment to get her revenge on Natsu. She picked the sappiest, most heartfelt movie she had, and pulled her laptop between where they lay so they could both see.

If he didn't get all sappy and romantic watching _this_ , then he was a robot.

But, an hour and a half later, when the movie had ended and Lucy was sobbing, Natsu was sitting there, expression still blank.

"You're a monster—how are you not sad?"

Natsu's face twisted up into a funny expression, and he pointed at the laptop with his hands. "I mean, it was okay, I just don't get it."

" _How_ do you not get it? It's romantic and cute and sad and perfect!"

Natsu's lips were twisted into a grin; he shrugged. "Not my cup of tea, I guess."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, grumbling under her breath about how dumb he was. Was this guy a robot? A machine? First, he doesn't care about her in a fucking _towel_ , then he doesn't care about her in this hot little number she had on, and now he doesn't even bat an eye at the most upsetting movie Lucy had ever seen?

He was ridiculous—and her plan to make him crack and beg at her knees was definitely not working out.

Now, Natsu decided it was _his_ turn to pick the activity, since Lucy had made such a rotten decision. And he'd picked baseball. Lucy had cringed—sports—but figured it was fair. She'd changed out of her dress into a pair of daisy dukes and a low-cut, tight black tank, hoping it'd catch his eye or _something_.

So, they made their way to the diamond, stopping off at Natsu's house for a second to grab a ball, a bat and a glove, and off they went. He pitched to Lucy first—she told him to take it slow—and she'd swung with little to no effort.

"Shucks," She said sarcastically, letting the bat hang awkwardly in her hands.

Natsu shook his head. "Don't do that—I _know_ you know how to play."

Lucy shrugged. "I forgot."

"You don't just _forget_ how to swing, Luce."

Natsu's dark eyes met hers, and he didn't seem impressed; the feeling bore into Lucy's stomach, making her feel almost ashamed. He didn't care about her sex appeal. He didn't care for her playing the girly card, not playing the game like she knew she should. And it bothered her.

She didn't like the look in his eyes, the passive, neutral glance that clearly expressed that her sudden 'inability' to play baseball or her shorty shorts didn't really impress him much. It made her self-conscious, and she felt like she was back in third grade: no confidence and trying to hopelessly impress a particular pink haired boy.

"C'mon, Luce—just play. For me?"

So, she did.

He pitched, and she swung; her actions were fluent, ingrained into her muscle memory. She'd done this far too many times to forget—Natsu had been right. She had the bat at the perfect angle, the perfect speed as it collided with the ball; a crack rang through the air, and Lucy already knew the outcome to that hit.

Homer. It flew over the back fence, far past anything she was capable of in her younger years. A sly grin worked its way onto her lips—she had to admit, it felt good to bat again—as she watched Natsu's face light up.

His eyes were bright and his jaw dropped, and he turned to look at the blonde on home plate. "Holy shit, Luce—that was awesome! First hit, too!"

Lucy shrugged, trying to ignore the conflict in her mind. Her tomboy side was cheering; her girly side was screaming in anguish, appalled at what she'd just done. One of the first things she'd learned in prep school: don't play sports. Breaks your nails, deteriorates your womanly elegance. And she'd just gone and done it.

But she was desperate to make Natsu want her, desperate for that hint of revenge for all of those years she loved him, and she was just about willing to do anything. The urge to see him grovel at her knees was strong, and she desperately wanted to see a look of yearning or lust in his eyes. Clearly, stripping down to practically nothing didn't work. Nothing worked. So she'd done this.

But, she could tell by the look in his eyes, batting hadn't done the trick either. No, it wasn't lust in his eyes—it was the look she'd grown to know from Natsu. The look of _friendship_. Family. Like she was a little brother.

So, she dropped the bat, deciding right then and there that she was going to push her sex appeal onto him as much as she possibly could. It was the only way—she _would_ break him.

Lucy bent down, making sure to stick her ass out, and tied her shoe; when she came back out, she pressed her chest out, hands reaching up and messing around with her hair, peering over at him.

He was looking at his baseball mitt. She nearly punched herself in the face.

A voice interrupted her thoughts. "Hey, pinky! Nice to see you make it to class."

Lucy turned, surprised to see three boys—two with black hair, one with blonde—making their way towards the baseball diamond. Then, after a second, it hit her: she knew those boys. Those boys were also surrounding her in her childhood—although, not nearly as much as Natsu had been. Gray, Gajeel and Laxus. She'd spent tons of nights with them and Natsu playing ball or swimming in the pond.

They were all looking at her, expressions interested but a little shy. So, she put her prep school confidence skills into practice and greeted them herself. She took a couple steps forward, hips swaying, and gave them her most charming grin. "Hi boys—it's been a while."

Their faces lit up, glad to be acknowledged by her rather than awkwardly reintroducing themselves.

"Hey, Lucy." Gajeel gave her a little wave.

Laxus gave her a nod; he'd never been a man of many words.

Gray seemed the most comfortable in her presence, a smile on his lips. "So it really _is_ you—we saw you in class yesterday, and Natsu knew it was you right away, but we didn't believe him."

Lucy frowned. "You guys were there, too? I never saw any of you."

Natsu crossed his arms, muttering something about her being blind as a bat.

"Speaking of class," Gray said, turning his gaze to Natsu. "You're both skipping. Shame on you."

Natsu glanced up at the sun. "It's only around one o'clock. Which means you're skipping too."

"Had to come check up on ya. But if I'd known you were with Lucy…" Gray trailed off, turning to look at the blonde. "I would've given you some more alone time."

Lucy's cheeks went a little red, and she peeked over at Natsu; his face was blank and he shrugged. Lucy's heart dropped, and she set her eyes on the ground.

"We're just playing ball. Lucy hit a homer."

"You're kidding." Gray seemed amused by this; to him, he couldn't work it out. In his mind, there were two Lucy's: old Lucy and pretty Lucy. He couldn't imagine pretty Lucy even holding a bat.

Lucy noticed his reaction, and it sat wrong with her. He didn't think she could hit a homer. But wasn't that the point? Wasn't that the intention of going all girly—not being the little brother figure anymore?

She shook it off, taking Gray's disbelief as a compliment instead. That just meant she was pulling off the part of girly girl to perfection. Clearly, Gray could see her sex appeal—so why couldn't Natsu? Lucy tried to brainstorm ideas to make Natsu want her whilst the boys chatted about baseball and MLB.

As the boys talked, Lucy couldn't help but notice Gray's eyes flickering back to her, trying to subtly sneak a peek at her face or her chest or her legs. His cheeks were a little red—he seemed a little shy—and he blinked several times after he snuck a glance at her.

She was flattered, but then she realized there was one sure fire way to make Natsu realize that she was loveable, that she was attractive and not at all like a brother.

Lucy was going to flirt with Gray.


	8. Arcade

The next day, the boys had decided that, after attending school—they'd all gotten a call from the office and been rung out by their parents—they would head over to the local arcade. Natsu had told Lucy as they'd walked to school—she walked with Natsu now, rather than get a ride from her dad; she had to wear a pair of oxford's rather than her usual heels, but she figured it was worth it because she got to chat with Natsu. He'd invited her along, saying the fellas wouldn't mind if she'd come; Lucy had grinned and agreed, figuring this would be a perfect opportunity to try out her newfound sex appeal on both Natsu and Gray, hoping at least _one_ of them would give her the reaction she craved.

So, after school, Natsu had walked her home—she insisted she needed to change her outfit; she mentioned something about how her clean white oxford's were _totally_ night arcade outfit material. He hadn't questioned it. She'd ran upstairs and dashed into her closet, digging through her outfits until she'd found the perfect thing to wear.

She'd chosen a black top that strung across her chest, revealing her shoulders; it cropped short, revealing her toned stomach. She'd opted for a pair of skin-tight skinny jeans that accentuated her figure, particularly in her bottom. Then, she'd topped the look off with a pair of cute little ballerina flats. Overall, it was a sexy look that also came off as sort of cute.

The perfect outfit to get a boy's attention, which was exactly what she was setting out to do.

She skipped down her porch steps, meeting Natsu at the base of them. She gestured to herself. "Whaddya think?"

Natsu's dark eyes flickered to her—he'd been preoccupied, watching the dog across the street chase after a squirrel—and he frowned slightly, not understanding. After a second, he realized she was asking about her outfit, and he ran his eyes down her body for a quick second. The boy shrugged. "You look nice."

A compliment, sure, but a rather lacklustre one. He'd barely even glanced at her. Lucy's shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. Did he not even _notice_ how different she was?

"Let's go," Lucy had grumbled, moving along down the pathway up to her house. "They're waiting for us."

The arcade wasn't far away—a short walk—and they made it there quickly. Natsu had chatted the entire time about how he'd never been able to save up enough arcade tickets to get the one prize he was really after: a cool water gun that had been behind the glass for at least a year. He told Lucy that he was determined to win it today, that he wasn't going home until he had that stupid gun in his arms.

Lucy had giggled, pretending to listen to whatever he was blabbering on about; in reality, she was scheming up more ways to attempt to get Natsu to notice her.

Maybe if she leaned over the skee ball machine _just right_ , sticking her booty out, he'd notice. Or maybe if they played air hockey and she leaned over when he was looking, he'd catch a clear glimpse of her now ample cleavage. She had lots of tactics stored up into her head—minor ones—just to increase the chances of her catching his eye.

However, the second they walked into the arcade, Lucy knew those minor tactics wouldn't be necessary. Her big plan—getting attention from other fellows—seemed to come to her with ease.

The second they walked in, everyone looked at her. The place was packed with teenage boys and they seemed surprised that a female had even entered the premises; they lurched from their positions, tongues wagging at her.

Lucy blushed, flattered with the attention she was clearly receiving; boys whooped and hollered at her from the back, calling her _cutie_ and _sexy_. She looked down shyly, playing it off, and glanced to the boy next to her, hoping to see a reaction out of him. Maybe he'd be angry that other boys were so callously calling out to her, or maybe he'd be a little jealous. Maybe he'd be protective. Maybe he'd be looking at her, finally realizing with wide eyes that she was a girl and attractive and cute.

Lucy's brown eyes flickered up to Natsu; her heart stopped.

His eyes were wide in both shock and excitement; his mouth was open just a little bit, like he'd been taken aback by something magnificent. He let out a little huff of a breath, almost like he was whispering a little ' _oh_ ' in wonder.

Lucy followed his eyes, and then her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.

He was looking at the fucking water gun. He hadn't even _noticed_ the boys calling out to Lucy. He didn't care whatsoever. He was just enthralled by the fucking water gun, placed in a glass case and held up on display.

Natsu's big hands landed on her shoulder and he twisted Lucy to face the display case. "See? Isn't is _beautiful?_ "

Lucy's voice was dark and dry. "Magnificent."

"I know."

A shout came from their left. "Ayo!"

Lucy's head turned; she was surprised to find three boys—Gajeel, Gray and Laxus—walking up to them, tickets already in hand. "Hey, guys."

Gajeel waved the tickets in the air. "We couldn't for you guys any longer—Laxus destroyed on the whack-a-mole."

Gray pulled up, picking the spot next to Lucy in their little circle; he nudged her with his elbow, giving her a smile. "Hey, Lucy. You look really nice."

Lucy blinked, surprised. Sure, she'd gotten compliments from guys before—she couldn't really walk down the street without being hollered at from a passing car full of boys—but she'd never received one so…intimately. Face to face, no hesitation. And it wasn't anything big—he wasn't professing his love, just a simple compliment saying she looked lovely—but it sent a shock through her system. Her cheeks burnt a hot red.

And it wasn't her fake blush, her controlled and contained blush that she dished out when boys ogled her. No, this was a genuine blush, one filled with flattery and embarrassment all at once.

"Thank you," Lucy murmured back, eyes darting down to her shoes.

Gray laughed a little at her reaction. He liked seeing girls respond like that to compliments, rather than tell him to shut up or disagree with him out of modesty. Lucy had accepted it, blushed, and moved on.

Natsu, who hadn't been watching, began to delve into his intricate plan. "Okay, boys—and Lucy—here's the gamplan. We're saving up for the Master Soaker 8500. Gajeel, you hit up the left side of the place. That's mainly throwing games, and we know you're good at those. Laxus, go back to the whack-a-mole. You'll get at least a thousand tickets there. Gray, you go over to skee ball. I'm going over to the video game section—my specialty. Any questions?"

Lucy raised a hand.

Natsu called on her. "Yes, Luce?"

"Where do I go? You never gave me an assignment."

"Oh, right," Natsu said, tapping his chin. "Well, you can come with me, and we'll—"

Gray interrupted. "Lucy can come with me," He said, eyes flickering from Natsu to Lucy. "Skee ball is more fun with two people, anyways."

Natsu's face fell into a frown. "Uh…"

Lucy glanced at Gray, shrugging. "Sounds good to me. Is that okay, captain?" The blonde turned to Natsu, eyebrows raised.

His dark eyes landed on her. "Um, sure." He hesitated for a second, mouth open as if he were about to speak, but ended up staying silent. He clapped his hands together. "Okay—break. Everyone meet at the pizza shack in an hour and a half."

The group disbanded; Natsu took off towards the game, practically jogging through the groups of teenage boys surrounding all of the arcade games. Lucy and Gray turned on their heels and headed back towards the skee ball area.

"Just so you know, I'm kind of a skee ball champ."

"Oh, really?" Lucy grinned, an eyebrow lifting. "Well, I've never played before, so you better share your expertise."

"You're kidding! You've never played skee ball?" Gray grabbed some coins out of his pocket and put them in the machine; the balls came rolling down and he handed one gently to Lucy. "How is that possible?"

Lucy shrugged, tossing the ball around in her fingers. "The arcade opened after I moved away, and there's nothing like this at the prep school. So, go on. Show me what you've got, teach."

Gray flashed her a smirk, then backed up; he stepped forward, releasing the ball. It rolled down the flat pane, jumping up and sinking directly in the 500 point slot. He leaned against the machine casually. "See?"

"Holy crap. You really _are_ good."

"Would I lie to you?" Gray snorted, then reached out for Lucy's hand; she daintily placed her palm in his hand, and he pulled her up, lining her feet up in the right position. "Okay, so hold onto the ball like _this_." His big hands reached over and fumbled with her fingers, altering their hold on the ball. "You're gonna step forward, spin it backwards, and release, okay?"

Lucy frowned at the game. "Okay. I can do that."

Gray's hands came down on her shoulders. "Just take a deep breath, and do exactly what I told you. You'll be great."

"Right." Lucy nodded, trying to ignore how sweaty her palms were.

She stepped back, moving her fingers to hold the ball just like Gray showed her. She sucked in a deep breath, stepped forward, and released.

The ball flew forward, backspinning, and it hit the jump; it hopped up, sinking into the 500 point slot, just like Gray's toss had.

"No way!" Lucy cried, jumping excitedly in place. "I did it!"

"Yes!" Gray made a fist with his hand, pumping it in the air. "Nice one, Lucy!"

She hopped over to him, smiling so big her cheeks hurt; he opened his arms and she threw her arms around his neck. They hugged, both grinning.

It wasn't a long hug—just a polite, proper, friendly hug. But the closeness, the physical contact made Lucy's stomach tighten with anticipation and excitement. Gray's hands stayed on her hips for a lingering second as they pulled away, and Lucy's heart skipped a beat. When she pulled back, he had a little pink color in his cheeks.

And it made her happy. She wasn't really sure why. It was just…nice to see a reaction out of someone. It was nice to know that she _was_ attractive, that she _had_ changed. Before…she'd never get a hug out of a guy, not like that. She'd never made anyone blush in her whole life. But here, _now_ …she'd made Gray—one of the best looking guys in school—blush just by touching him.

It meant something to her. Especially after trying so hard to get Natsu to even recognize that she was female, something like this, making a boy _react_ to her touch…well, it made her kind of giddy inside.

Because she'd totally changed, and she was starting to reap the benefits.

And the feeling in her chest felt so good, she didn't hold back. She went all out with the flirting, not hesitating for a second. Because why would she? Gray was nice, good looking, and very polite. Why _couldn't_ she flirt with him? So she'd giggle at his jokes, reach out and touch his shoulder during their conversations, hug him whenever he won top prize at a game.

Gray started to flirt back. Not rudely, of course, but little subtle hints were dropped here and there. He'd hug her back, cheeks going red every time she poked him in the side or nudged him with her elbow; he'd pull her from game to game, grabbing her hand gently.

They had fun.

Lucy was happy, the happiest she'd ever been since returning. Sure, maybe it was a little stupid that she was so overjoyed that a _boy_ had reacted to her, acted like she was an attractive young lady, but it had really made her day. She could remember the old days, where she was just another one of the boys—and now, here she was, wearing a cute outfit and making boys blush.

She'd come far, and she was happy about it.

Lucy and Gray slowly made their way to the pizza shack, a restaurant tucked into the food court at the arcade, where everyone was supposed to meet up. They were a little late—they'd gotten caught up in playing a different game—and they walked up to the table where everyone was, giggling about something they'd done.

Natsu was frowning. "You're late."

Lucy pressed her lips together, trying not to crack a smile. "Sorry, captain."

Gray was still grinning. "We, uh, got distracted."

Laxus and Gajeel gave each other a glance, eyebrows raised. Clearly, there was _something_ between Lucy and Gray—they were getting along _very_ well—and everyone could notice it.

Natsu looked from Lucy to Gray, then back to the girl. "I bought you a slice," He said, voice distant. "It's probably cold, now."

Lucy looked at the table; the pink haired boy had shoved a plate with a slice of pepperoni pizza on it towards her. "Oh. Thank y—" Lucy began, but was cut off.

Gray's hand reached down, wrapping around her waist; he was gently tugging her away from the table, steering her towards the pizza shack. "I'll buy you a hot piece. It'll taste better."

Lucy blinked. "Oh. Okay."

Hand still on her waist, Gray walked Lucy over to the pizza shack; once they were there, he slid his hand off of her, being respectful towards her space. His cheeks were going a little pink again. They pulled up and waited in line.

Lucy glanced back over her shoulder; Natsu was ignoring Laxus and Gajeel's conversation. After a second of glaring down at the cold piece of pizza, he picked it up and walked over to the garbage; he chucked it, stashing it in the garbage can with a shove. He made his way back to his seat and crossed his arms.

Gray started to talk again, asking her what kind of pizza she wanted, and Lucy turned her back to the table.

Natsu glanced up, eyes flickering to Lucy and Gray. They were deep in conversation, a smile on both of their faces. He looked down at the table, expression blank.

Gray got Lucy a slice of cheese pizza, and ordered himself a slice of Hawaiian and a coke. They headed back to the table, stomachs growling. Gray pulled up two chairs for them, and they sat down, ready to dig in.

The group all chatted about the amount of tickets they'd earned—Natsu had won the most by far, due to his passionate dedication to the prize. Conversations turned to the games they'd each played, and Gray started to talk about Lucy's odd talent at skee ball—thanks to his lessons. Lucy giggled, saying he'd been a _great_ teacher.

The two flirted, smiles big.

Natsu stood, grabbing his garbage. "Only two and a half hours left 'till the arcade closes, and I _need_ that water gun. Let's get to work!"

"Hey." Lucy frowned. "Me and Gray aren't done eating."

Natsu looked at her, shrugging. "Finish, then. I'm going to win more tickets." He took a few steps, then turned back. "Oh. Everyone meet back here five minutes before closing so we can pool our tickets!"

And off he went.

Lucy felt her stomach drop, and it took her a couple long seconds to realize why she was so…blue.

She'd flirted with Gray _right there_ , right in front of Natsu and he hadn't even blinked. All he cared about was that stupid water gun—he wasn't concerned whatsoever with Lucy and Gray maybe possibly being a thing or liking one another or flirting at all. He didn't care.

Her plans to make Natsu give her a reaction had ultimately failed. This had been her big plan, and it clearly hadn't worked. Lucy poked at her pizza, huffing out a sigh.

Really, she shouldn't be so gloomy. So, Natsu didn't care that she was pretty or different or an actual girl. He didn't care if she flirted with Gray. Hell, he probably wouldn't care if Lucy dated Gray. That shouldn't bother her. Either way, she'd spent the entire afternoon flirting with a nice, cute, funny guynd. Why the hell was she so grumpy? Really, she should be overjoyed.

But she wasn't, and Natsu's blank, uncaring expression lingered in her mind. Doing her usual routine, she stuffed the thought to the back of her head and ignored it until the sensation went away.

Lucy and Gray finished eating, then headed off to get more tickets; they laughed and flirted—although now, it was half-assed flirting on Lucy's part—and did their best to win as many tickets as possible.

They returned to the pizza shack five minutes before closing, following Natsu's orders. There, everyone tallied how much they'd made and added it together.

Natsu did the final count, and then nearly burst into tears. They'd collected enough for him to purchase the water gun. He collected the tickets and ran off, leaving everyone milling around, waiting for his return.

Everyone agreed Natsu could keep the gun—no one else was really concerned with it. Besides, it was his dream to own it, and they'd only pitched in today so that he could shut up about the thing once and for all.

The pink haired boy returned, water gun in hand, a goofy smile plastered on his lips. They slipped out of the arcade, since it was closing, and chatted outside the front doors for about ten minutes.

Then, everyone decided to head home, since they had class in the morning.

"I can walk you home," Gray offered, eyes flashing to up Lucy's. He gave her a wink. "You know, to keep you safe."

Natsu butted in before Lucy had the chance to respond. "She's walking with me."

Gray made a face. " _Why?_ "

Lucy turned to look at Natsu, eyebrows high.

"We live right beside each other, idiot." Natsu paused. "I can keep her safe with my water gun."

Gray shook his head, ignoring his friend. "Okay, fine," He mumbled, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice. He gave a wave. "Seeya, Lucy."

Lucy waved back. "Bye!"

They all said goodbye, giving a wave when Gajeel and Laxus split off, too.

Lucy and Natsu began their trek home; Natsu carefully hugged his water gun to his chest as if it were a baby. Lucy laughed at him, asking him if he was happy; Natsu said he'd never been so happy in his life.

They chatted about the arcade, and Natsu told Lucy about him absolutely schooling some punk in Donkey Kong; Lucy laughed at his antics, a loud snort accidentally sneaking out as she giggled.

Natsu's lips twisted up into a funny little smile, and his voice was soft when he spoke. "Now _that's_ a Lucy laugh."

Lucy's eyebrows pulled down. "What?"

He shook his head. "Uh—nothin'."

She was still smiling; it felt like she couldn't wipe it off of her lips. "Tell me."

Natsu cringed a little, scratching the back of his head nervously with his free hand. "Well, it's just…you always used to snort when you laughed. Like, really, really loud. And I don't think you ever noticed it." He paused, and they walked in silence for a moment. "You haven't snorted since you got back, until right then. And it's just…that's a _Luce_ laugh."

Lucy's cheeks went a little red, and she looked down at the pavement as they walked. So he _had_ noticed that Lucy was different. Not in the way she'd hoped—not about her looks, not about her confidence—but rather about her laugh. She was a little touched, though, that he'd paid that much attention to her laugh.

She pressed her lips together, trying not to grin. "I didn't realize I snorted that much."

Natsu shrugged. "Not really as much anymore. But back in the day, it was just about every five seconds. And they were _loud_."

"Shut up, they were not."

"Sometimes when we talked through the cans, I thought you'd wake up your dad because you were snorting so fucking loud."

Lucy cringed. "Oh, god. Really? That's embarrassing."

Natsu's eyes stayed trained on the sidewalk ahead of them. "I think it's cute."

The two fell silent as they walked, and a warm comfort fell over them. It was just like the old days—the two of them, totally comfortable in each other's presence, walking together—and it made her heart swell.

Natsu walked her to her door, and they chatted for a minute.

Lucy said goodnight; Natsu had returned the gesture.

And then, with a rush of bravery flooding her veins, Lucy stepped forward and pressed her lips to Natsu's cheek.

Immediately, she regretted it. Why had she done that? Why the _hell_ had she kissed his cheek? Everything had been fine, and here she went and blew it. She leaned back, her own cheeks burning with heat, eyes wide and hands scrunched up until little fists. She was almost afraid to see his face.

His eyes were wide and his mouth was open a little bit and maybe there was a hint of pink in his cheeks, but he didn't look disgusted like Lucy had thought he would. There was a long second of silence, and then he shut his mouth, and looked at his hands, fumbling with his water gun. And then he mumbled a quiet little "G'night, Luce," and hopped off her porch, headed towards his own house.

Lucy stepped into her house, closing the door behind her. She pressed her back against the front door and let out a cry of anguish. "Auuuugggggggghhhh," She hissed, annoyed with herself. Why'd she _kiss_ his cheek? Why? Why was she so stupid?

Her stomach was all floppy feeling and her chest ached and she sort of wanted to die. But she had school tomorrow, so she made her way to her bedroom, replaying the moment on her porch over and over again in her mind, trying to break it down and make sense of it.

He hadn't been grossed out. He hadn't shoved her away and been horrified. He hadn't even looked angry. No. Just surprised. He just looked shocked. And he'd said goodnight, and then left.

Had she just ruined her friendship with him? Was everything destroyed? Was it too awkward now for them to even speak?

Lucy felt like stuffing her face into her pillow and running away. But, she had to get up early the next day, so she went to the washroom and wiped off her makeup, brushed her hair and brushed her teeth. And then she headed to her bedroom, stomach heavy and heart filled with butterflies and regret.

But to Lucy's surprise, there was a sound coming from the can hanging from her window sill. She glanced out the window to Natsu's bedroom, but she couldn't see him; she frowned and went to the can, putting it to her ear.

It was Natsu. He was mumbling into the can, half-ass singing some song. He must be laying on the floor, down far enough that Lucy couldn't see him from the window.

Lucy picked it up. "Natsu?"

There was a second of silence, and then a response. "You didn't hear me singing, did you?"

Lucy stifled a laugh. "I did."

"Ugh. Well, I was waiting for you, and you took too long, so I got bored."

"You were waiting for me?"

He snorted. "Can't fall asleep 'till we've talked on here for at _least_ an hour."

Lucy's chest felt warm. "Dork. What were you singing?"

Another beat of silence. "Uh, Taylor Swift."

Lucy cracked up, unable to hold it in.

"Hey!" Natsu cried, frowning. "She's a lyrical mastermind."

"Sit up so I can see you," Lucy said, pouting.

Natsu's head bobbed up quickly, pink hair jutting out messily. He had a stupid grin on his face and his cheeks were a little more flushed than usual.

They talked for a long while about nothing in particular. At one point, Lucy had convinced Natsu to sing her some more Taylor Swift; he refused for about half an hour, and then caved once she began to really pout about it.

After a while, he grabbed his water gun and shot her through their window panes; she squealed and they laughed.

And everything was fine. Their friendship was perfectly fine. It was as if that kiss on his cheek had never occurred. Lucy was extremely relieved, glad that she hadn't ruined everything between her and her best friend. They stayed up late, chatting and laughing as they talked through their little cans.

Natsu's cheek was warm the entire night where Lucy's lips had touched him.


	9. Revert

"Well, Jesus, Lucy—maybe you should just walk around your bedroom naked."

Lucy said, knocking her head against her headboard. "Don't be gross, Levy."

"This is a serious suggestion! Hear me out. The kid won't even give you a second glance—all he sees is little ol' tomboy Lucy, even after all of this time. And you've been dropping hints like crazy, still nothing. You even dress all sexy and flirt with a dude right in front of him, and nothing! So, he comes home, goes to his room, looks though his window, and what does he see? You getting changed or something. Totally nude. He can't see you as little brother Lucy after that."

Lucy let out a sigh. She'd called Levy—her best friend at the prep school—to fill her in on her first week back home. Of course, Levy had asked about everything, and Lucy had dished; she'd even told her about her conquest to make Natsu want her, and how it clearly wasn't working out. So, Levy gave her some ideas.

"I can see the logic, but _still_. I don't really want to walk around naked. What if my dad knocks on my door?"

"Then you say 'Dad, don't come in, I'm naked'. Easy."

Lucy let out a laugh, shaking her head against her cellphone. "I'll consider it."

"It'll work, I'm telling you." Levy paused, her breath loud in the receiver. "Maybe just date this Gray guy, y'know? Maybe forget completely about this whole thing with Natsu and just focus on the guy whose actually caring about you."

Lucy swallowed; her throat felt thick. "Yeah…" She trailed off. "Maybe that's the best idea."

"I mean, why waste time on this guy if he doesn't even notice you?"

"But that's the thing," Lucy said, frowning as she stared at her floor. "He _does_ notice me. In a friendly way. And that's it."

"So be friends with him," Levy spoke, "But date Gray. He seems to actually show romantic interest. Is he cute?"

Lucy shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"Then go for it! It's not like Natsu could be mad—he hasn't shown any interest that way whatsoever."

"True."

"Listen to me. I give the best advice."

Lucy sighed. "I know. You're right. I'll listen to you."

"And I'm serious about that walking around naked thing! Try it, I swear to god."

Lucy rolled her eyes. " _Maybe_."

"Yeah, yeah. Update me, okay? I gotta run. Love you!"

"Love you, too," Lucy mumbled into her cellphone, exiting the call and tossing the phone onto her bed. She glanced over to the window, again making sure that it was closed. She looked down at the can, pulling out the sock she'd stuffed up there before confessing everything to Levy. She would've _died_ if Natsu had ever been able to hear a tidbit of that conversation, so she'd taken precautions. Now, she undid these precautions; she opened the window, letting a warm breeze flow in. She tossed the sock into her laundry hamper.

The week had passed and Lucy had gotten nowhere in her goals of making Natsu lust after her.

He'd asked her to come pass the ball around with him—he needed to practice his skills before tryouts, which were in three weeks—and she'd worn her sleaziest outfit (tight crop top and the sexiest, shortest jean cutoffs she owned) and he hadn't even blinked. It meant nothing to him. He didn't even widen his eyes, didn't even glance down at her body or give any sort of reaction. No, no. Instead he'd just chatted away about baseball and the tryouts and how he had to definitely increase training if he wanted to make the team this year.

Lucy had invited him over for dinner one day, because her father wanted to see Natsu and catch up. He'd come, and Lucy had worn a tight black dress with a big slit to show off her toned legs. She'd curled her hair, done her makeup, looked as beautiful as possible, but still nothing. He'd sat there and stuffed his face with spaghetti, chatted away with her father the entire night. And once they'd finished supper, Lucy and Natsu had headed up to her bedroom to hang out. He'd put a movie in and they'd laid in the bed together watching it, and she even tried to subtly touch their legs together. The contact had sent her heart into a frenzy, but the boy hadn't even noticed; his eyes were trained on the movie, and he kept making dumb jokes about the CGI the entire way through.

She was absolutely out of ideas. What else could she do? She'd looked as hot as possible, and there was no reaction. She'd flirted with another dude in front of her, and there was no reaction. She'd been as sexy as she possibly could without giving the dude a friggin' lapdance, and there had been no reaction.

Maybe Levy was right. Maybe Lucy _should_ focus her time and effort onto the boy that had shown actual interest in her.

But the idea didn't seem to catch Lucy's interest. Yeah, Gray was pretty cute and he was super nice and super funny, but the urge to really rub her newfound hotness into Natsu's face was the only thing that really appealed to her. Of course, she'd absolutely failed in doing so every single time she'd attempted. So why was she so inclined on continuing to try?

Lucy decided she'd give herself one more attempt. One more try to get a reaction out of Natsu. She wanted a _real_ reaction out of him. She wanted him to check her out and she wanted him to drool at the sight of her and she wanted him to look at her lips longingly.

So, she genuinely thought about walking around her bedroom naked. After deliberating for a couple moments, Lucy came to the conclusion that that was _too_ slutty, that she couldn't go that far. She didn't want to totally demean herself—she wasn't about to stoop that low. She tossed her hopes into the metaphorical trashcan and figured she'd just see where things went with Gray—nothing serious, just something casual and fun.

She was tired—she'd come straight home from school and called Levy; the boys had headed to the baseball diamond to practice for a bit—so she headed to the shower to wipe the schoolyard grime off of her skin. She stripped in the bathroom and hopped in the shower, letting the hot water wash over her; she lathered up with a pretty smelling soap, smiling to herself. It smelled like roses—she loved that scent.

Once she was clean, she hopped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself; she grabbed her dirty clothes and tossed them in her hamper in her bedroom, grabbing some clean underwear as well as a change of clothes. She headed back to the bathroom, taking the time to shave her legs, and then pulled her bra and panties on.

Lucy frowned down at the outfit she'd picked. She'd chosen a black bra and panties, but then a sheer white top and light colored shorts. If she wore them together, everyone would see her underwear through her clothes—a major fashion faux pas, unless deliberately pieced together to make a statement. Lucy sighed, grabbing the top and shorts and heading back to her bedroom, wearing only her bra and panties.

She hung the clothes back up, careful not to wrinkle the fabric. She dug through her closet some more, frowning at shirts that wouldn't work with her bra either. Frustrated, she kept looking through her clothes, desperate to find _something_ that would work.

But, before she could find anything, the sound of a door opening nearby broke her out of her trance.

Lucy's eyes snapped to her door, and her heart stopped. "Uh, Dad, don't come in—"

But her voice cut off just as quickly when she realized it wasn't _her_ door opening. No, it was the door to the bedroom across the gap. Lucy spun, eyes wide, turning to face her window; as she did so, the door in the bedroom across the gap flew open, and several boys walked into the room.

Gajeel, Laxus, Gray and Natsu.

They sauntered into Natsu's room, their eyes inexplicably flickering up to his bedroom window. It was everyone's first reaction when they entered his room; the window was the first thing in front of the door you saw. And now that Lucy was back and her curtains were open, Lucy's bedroom was the first thing anyone saw when they entered Natsu's room.

And, one by one, they all freaked.

Gray walked in, eyes flickering to the window casually, then widening once he realized that _oh my god_ , that was Lucy, right there, in her underwear. "Jesus!" He'd cried, unable to look away, eyes wide, cheeks red, pants suddenly very tight.

Gajeel had walked in, mouth filled with a cookie he'd stolen from Natsu's kitchen. His eyes flickered to the window, landed on Lucy's ass, and he'd begun to choke; the cookie lodged itself in his throat as he gasped. He spent the next couple minutes leaning over and hacking, face red and unable to breathe.

Laxus had stepped into the room and looked to the window; instantly, he'd ducked his head, face more red than it had ever been before, and covered his eyes. "Shit," He'd hissed out, eyes slammed shut.

Natsu had followed behind all of the boys, frowning when he saw their expressions. Gajeel choking, Laxus with his eyes slammed shut and his hand on his face, and Gray pointedly staring at his bedroom window. He made a face, and then his own eyes caught what was across the gap from his window.

Lucy.

She'd realized what was happening and had spun, eyes wide and cheeks red, so that she was facing the window, which honestly, wasn't any better. She was frozen in place, the shock and embarrassment halting her mobility.

Natsu's face went red when he saw her there, _like that_ , and he dove forwards, dropping his beloved baseball bat and letting it clatter to the floor. He slammed Gray out of the way—he swore it was an accident, but at the way Gray was ogling Lucy like that, he didn't really mind that he'd pushed Gray's forehead into the drywall—and dove to his curtains.

"Jesus—Luce!" Natsu had hissed, pulling his curtains shut, preventing the boys—and himself—from accidentally looking at her nearly naked body any longer.

Now that the curtains were closed, Lucy had the ability to move; she sprung into action and dove onto the bed, grabbing her bedding and wrapping it around her like a cocoon. "Ack—I-I'm sorry!"

Natsu sat on his knees in front of his window, hands still tightly clinging to his curtains, holding them together. He leaned his head against the fabric, closing his eyes, chest heaving from the sudden action.

He could hear her panting—both of their windows were wide open and only a small space apart—and grunting as she covered herself with blankets.

After a couple seconds, Natsu murmured, "Luce, you okay?" He knew she could hear him, and he knew she'd be upset.

Gajeel was still hacking in the background, trying to cough the cookie up; Laxus and Gray were clapping his back, trying to help him.

There were a couple of seconds before Lucy responded; when she did, her voice was shaky with embarrassment. "Did you…Did you see anything?"

Natsu blinked, staring at his still-closed curtains. His fists were still tight around the fabric, and he didn't dare open them, not until he knew Lucy was clothed. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want to let go of the curtains at all, in fear that they might flutter open or something. He had to protect Lucy's innocence. "I…uh…"

Lucy closed her eyes, grimacing. She knew what his hesitation meant—he'd seen _everything_. "Ugh." She was mortified.

Natsu's cheeks were warm, but his voice was soft. "Are you okay?"

"Other than wanting to kill myself? Yeah, perfect."

"Don't say that," He scolded. "It's not a big deal."

Lucy's stomach flopped with embarrassment. She had never intended to follow through with Levy's advice—but here she was, accidentally doing it. Thank god she hadn't _actually_ been naked. "It's a big deal."

"It's really not."

Lucy sighed. "Natsu, you saw me in my bra and panties."

He shut his eyes, embarrassed. "It's not me you have to worry about—it's the other guys that are bothering me."

Lucy blinked. "Why?"

"Gajeel's dying. Laxus still has his eyes shut, for some reason. And I think Gray might start jerking off right here, in my bedroom."

Lucy cringed. "Kill me."

" _Luce_."

"I'm just gonna go lay in the dark for the rest of my life, okay?" Lucy pulled herself up, blankets still cocooned around her. She had to hop to move. "You can open your curtains."

Natsu flung his curtains open; his eyes locked with her brown ones. "Luce, don't go."

"I'll see you at school," Lucy grumbled, hopping out of her room, cheeks hotter than they'd ever been before. She opted to go sit on her bathroom floor rather than face her best friend.

Natsu frowned at her as she hopped out of sight, staring at her room for a long moment before turning back to his friends and going to give Gajeel the Heimlich.

Lucy fully intended to die there on her bathroom floor, because she really didn't want to leave and she was perfectly happy with never seeing anyone ever again. But, these plans were disrupted when there was a light knock on her bathroom door approximately seven minutes after _the incident_.

"Go away, Dad. I'm dying in here, I decided."

Another couple knocks.

"Dad, I said _go away_ —"

The door creaked open, revealing a familiar face.

Lucy groaned. "Natsu, go away!"

Natsu opened the door all the way, flicking the lights on. He held up a container of Ben and Jerry's and two spoons. "Let's go watch a movie."

Lucy had refused—she insisted she was dying on her bathroom floor tonight—but he'd picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder and hauled her over to her bed. He left her cocooned in her blanket of sadness and grabbed an extra blanket from the closet in the hall; he rolled himself up into his own cocoon. Then, he put on some girly movie from her laptop, settled it in front of them, flicked off the lights—making sure to turn the lamp on so the room was comfortable and they could still see the icecream—and started the movie.

He handed her the icecream—cookie dough icecream, Lucy's favorite—and a spoon, and let her start to dig away at it. Once she'd had an opportunity to get the good chunks, Natsu began to poke at it with his spoon, chipping away a couple mounds of icecream at a time.

After a couple minutes, Natsu spoke. "Don't be so quiet."

Lucy frowned. "You're the one that rudely interrupted my dying on the bathroom floor."

Natsu nudged her with his elbow; his eyes watched her carefully. "You don't have to be embarrassed, Luce."

"Yes, I do, actually. You practically saw me naked, Natsu."

He tried not to make a face. "S'not so bad—just like seeing you in a bikini."

"You've never seen me in a bikini!"

Natsu stuffed more icecream in his mouth. "Yeah, well, now I know what I've been missing."

"Ugh." Lucy made a face, then she sighed, expression going soft. "Where'd the boys go?"

Natsu's dark eyes flashed from the laptop to the girl beside him. "I sent them home."

Lucy frowned. "Weren't you guys supposed to be doing something important tonight?" She vaguely remembered them chatting excitedly at lunch time.

"Yeah." Natsu shrugged. "It's alright, though. I'd rather be here."

Lucy didn't understand. "Why'd you send them home?"

Natsu snorted, shaking his head at her obliviousness; he turned his gaze to her, and he gave her a funny look. "Priorities, Luce."

Her eyebrows bolted upwards. " _I'm_ the priority?"

"'Course you are."

"Wow," Lucy murmured, settling back against her headboard, eyes flickering to the laptop screen for a quick second. "Well, I feel kinda bad taking up all your time, making you send the guys home…"

"Don't worry about it." He took another spoonful of icecream. "I'd rather be with you anyways."

"Why's that?"

Natsu shrugged, as if the answer were obvious. "You're more important. Besides, you're having a rough day. Gotta make it better."

Lucy's mind flashed back to all of the times Natsu had come over, icecream or chocolate in hand when she'd been sad; he'd put her in bed, give her candy, put on a movie—just like this. He'd always been there to take care of her when she needed it most—and that was still true to this day.

"Well, thank you," Lucy whispered, voice catching a little as the memories flooded her mind. "For everything."

His expression was warm and his eyes softened, melting down into pools of darkness as he looked at her. When he spoke, his voice was deep and gentle. "You're welcome."

The movie played on in the background, but Lucy and Natsu hardly noticed; they sat there, the glow of the lamp in the far corner the only thing lighting up the room, eyes locked on one another.

Lucy's stomach flopped nervously, his gaze intense on her face; her heart was hammering against her ribs, pushing the air out of her lungs in short little gasps. Her veins felt like they were on fire; vibrations bolted through her limbs, like jolts of electricity zapping her from her head to her toes.

Her heart felt like it was swollen, like it was so full with love and happiness that it might explode.

And her eyes dropped to his lips. She couldn't help but admire them.

But before her thoughts could continue any further, his eyes dropped and he glared down at the tub of icecream, complaining about how Lucy ate so much and didn't save him any and how life wasn't fair. Lucy felt her heart drop a little, too caught up in the moment that had so easily slipped by, but ignored it; she squabbled back with him, smacking him and telling him he'd eaten a ton of it already.

They bickered like that all night, just like the old days, and for a while, Lucy almost forgot that she'd left.

It felt like no time had passed. It felt like she was the same old Lucy, the little tomboy with the sweatpants, sitting with her best friend in her bedroom like they always did. She didn't feel girly and different. With Natsu, she naturally reverted back into her original state.

She wasn't positive if that was a good thing or a bad thing yet.

They fell asleep there, both wrapped up in blanket burritos, movie still playing on the laptop. The icecream melted and spilled on her sheets, and by the morning, they'd both untangled themselves from the confines of their blankets.

Lucy's alarm for school went off and she groaned, complaining. She let out a screech the second she realized she was _in bed_ with Natsu in her _underwear_ ; Natsu awoke with a start, jumping to his feet to protect Lucy from whatever had made her scream. He looked to her and his cheeks went red but for some reason he didn't look away, and she smacked him, then ran to the bathroom. Natsu went to the door and apologized; Lucy was silent for a moment or two, and then asked him to grab her a change of clothes.

It took Natsu twenty minutes to follow Lucy's instructions and pick out an appropriate outfit, and he covered his eyes and stuck his hand in the bathroom, handing her the clothes. She pulled them on quickly, washing her face and brushing her hair before they headed off to class, since they were already late.

Lucy didn't realize she wasn't wearing makeup. She also didn't realize that her outfit choice for the day was drastically different than the outfit she'd worn on her first day of school; rather than wear a tight dress, now she'd subconsciously opted for something a little bit more comfortable: a t-shirt and some jeans. Not quite her old sweatpants and sweatshirt, but a far cry from skin tight minidresses.

Lucy never noticed.

Natsu did. And it sort of made him happy to see his best friend back, even if she was still a little more girly than before. But it was her, and she was here, and they were together.

He smiled brighter than usual.


	10. The Best Friend

Lucy was late to lunch. She'd lagged behind after class to ask the teacher a question about a tough algebra question, then gone to her locker to stash her heavy books away for the break. This caused her to enter the cafeteria exactly seven minutes later than her usual entrance.

Normally, she'd walk in, find the boys—they always sat at the same table; now, they saved her a seat as well—plop down, chat and munch on whatever grub she'd packed for herself.

This time, when she entered the cafeteria, she was absolutely puzzled by what she saw before her. Rather than the normal group of four sitting at the table awaiting her arrival, there were only three. Lucy stopped in her tracks, frowning at the sight. No head of spiky pink hair sat with Gray, Gajeel and Laxus.

Well, that's weird.

Lucy shrugged it off, figuring he was just as late as she was. She stepped up to the table, giving everyone a greeting, and then let her curiosity get the best of her.

"Where's Natsu?"

Immediately, Gajeel and Laxus dropped their eyes to their food, looking at it with intensity, as if they didn't really wanna answer her question. Gray glared at the table, nose wrinkling in disgust and annoyance just at the sound of Natsu's name.

"Over there," Gray said, although the words spat out rather harshly. He nodded his head towards the far back corner of the cafeteria.

Lucy's eyes trailed over to the back wall, widening once she realized Natsu was sitting back there, stuffing his face all on his lonesome. Her frown deepened. "He's not sitting with you?"

Gray scoffed. "Nah."

She blinked, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "Did you guys get in a fight, or something?"

Gray forced a tight smile at Lucy. "Let's just say I don't really feel like being his friend right now."

"Yikes." Lucy murmured, eyes worryingly flickering up to the lonely boy in the corner.

Now, if Lucy had been exactly on time like she normally was, she most likely would have overheard the small exchange between the two boys that had led to something as drastic and dramatic as sitting on opposite sides of the cafeteria. But, she'd been late, and she'd missed everything, and no one seemed like they were about to explain it to her.

So, she let it go, didn't ask any further.

"I'm gonna go eat with Natsu."

The three boys' faces flashed up to hers. Gray looked astounded. "You're picking him over us?"

Lucy made a face. Clearly, they had gotten in a pretty big argument. "He's all alone, and you guys have each other. I'm not picking favorites."

She didn't mention that if she _were_ picking favorites, she'd still pick Natsu every single time.

Gray turned his glare back onto his hamburger. "Fine, fine." He let out a sigh. "I'll see you after class, right?"

Lucy blinked. "Did we have plans?"

"You said you'd pitch to me so I could practice my batting, remember?"

"Oh," Lucy nodded, but her stomach dropped. She'd kind of been looking forward to hanging out with Natsu after school. She kept her tone bright so that Gray didn't notice how disappointed she was. "Right. Yeah, I'll meet you at the front doors, okay? Then we can walk to the diamond together."

She'd promised Gray she'd help him earlier that morning, in first block, but had totally forgotten about it. Thoughts of watching a movie with Natsu or doing _anything_ with Natsu, really, had clogged her mind. Now, she kind of resented that she'd even offered Gray her help—any time without Natsu seemed sort of like a waste of time.

Because he was her best friend, and not because he was super nice and super cute and made her heart hammer in her chest. She had to repeat that sentence in her mind a couple times before she could even pretend to believe it.

"Sounds good," Gray responded, although his tone was still bitter. Probably still mad about whatever he and Natsu had argued about.

Giving a wave, Lucy headed off to the far end of the cafeteria; she plopped down beside Natsu tugging the salad she'd prepared the night before out of her bag and placing it in front of her. "What the hell are you and Gray fighting about?"

Natsu's expression was pure fury. "Don't wanna talk about it."

"Aw, come on! No one tells me anything."

Natsu took a bite of his burger—it was the daily special in the cafeteria—and gave Lucy a look. Instantly, fear ran down her spine; he looked absolutely livid, like he was made of pure fire. Her eyes widened at his expression, realizing just how mad he really was.

Natsu didn't ever really get mad, so to see him in _this_ state was rather terrifying.

Lucy pulled the top off of her container, grabbing her fork and poking around at her salad. Green, healthy, bland. She sighed and took a bite of lettuce. Unsatisfying, especially with Natsu stuffing down two burgers right in front of her face. "Yeesh." She huffed out a breath at his dark look. "Must be pretty serious."

"I want to kill him."

"I'm guessing Gajeel and Laxus took his side, then, considering they're over there and we're over here?"

His cheeks were full, but she could tell he was still violently raging. "I wanna kill them, too."

Lucy took another bite of salad, nearly drooling as she watched Natsu dig into his second burger that he'd set aside. "So, what'd he do?"

Natsu's eyebrows tugged down as he chewed. "Something unforgivable."

"Listen, I'm gonna need you to be a bit more explicit. How am I supposed to take your side if I don't know what's going on?"

"Just trust me."

Lucy sighed. Looks like she wasn't going to find out what really went down. "Please tell me that you'll be friends again by the time school is over?"

Natsu made a face. "Why?"

"Because I told Gray that I'd help him practice at the diamond, and I was kinda hoping you'd come, and—"

Natsu's eyes widened slightly, and his voice was completely serious. "Don't go."

"What?"

"You heard me—don't go."

Lucy's shoulders dropped and she looked at him, head cocking to the side slightly. "Does that mean you'll still be fighting and you won't come?"

"I'm not going anywhere near that asshole," Natsu spat gruffly. He hesitated for a second, holding his burger close to his lips; his eyes were locked with hers. "Please don't go, Luce."

"Natsu," Lucy whined. "I'm not picking favorites, I just _promised_ him, and—"

He shook his head. "It's not that. I don't think you're picking favorites. Just…please, can you just do me a favor and not go with him tonight and just not ask me a single question as to why I am asking you this?"

Lucy frowned at him, brown eyes searching his face. There was no sense of humor emitted into expression, not even a hint to his usual smirk—he was dead serious. _Painfully_ serious. And his eyes were wide and his lips pulled down in the corners, just like they always did when he was upset. His body was tense with anger and his eyes were bloodshot and he looked drained.

He looked awful, like he might just try to kill someone or maybe even cry, so she couldn't help but do as he'd asked.

"Okay," Lucy said, breaking the silence after a few long moments. "Okay, fine. I'll say something else came up. Sound good?"

Relief flooded him, and Lucy could see him visibly relax. "Yes. Perfect. Thanks, Luce."

"I still don't get it, though."

"You said you wouldn't ask any questions, Luce."

"Ah," She hissed. "Damn it."

Natsu's lips spread into a little grin—nothing like his normal beaming smile, but a hint of his regular self—but for only a split second. Immediately after that glimpse of happiness arrived, it was halted, stopped in its tracks and replaced with a frown.

He was eyeing her, his gaze flickering down at her blank expression and her salad. Natsu sighed, then handed her his burger. There was a little over half of it left. "You're lucky I love you."

Lucy's eyes widened, glancing at her best friend and then down at the burger in his hands, which he was now holding out to her. "What? Natsu, I don't need it. It's yours."

"Luce—your eating a _salad_. Take it." He pushed it towards her even more.

Lucy's brown eyes dropped down to her salad, then looked back up to the burger. The burger was greasy, slathered in barbecue sauce, topped with onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a slice of cheese. She was practically drooling on it. "I like salad."

"Really? 'Cause you look like you're about to cry eating it."

She paused, realizing just how warped her expression was, filled with disgust stemming from her leafy lunch. It was weird—she'd eaten salads nearly every meal every day at the prep school. She'd been taught that it was the perfect meal (healthy, filling and beautiful) and every single student took part in eating magnificent salads throughout the day. The salad in front of her was beautiful, and had been her favorite type to eat when at the prep school. But right now, it just seemed…awful.

She shoved the salad to the side and wrapped her hands around the thick, juicy burger. She gave Natsu an excited grin and then sunk her teeth into the beef, pleasure running through her body.

"Jesus, when's the last time you ate a burger?" Natsu said, watching the girl scarf down the food.

Lucy shrugged. When she spoke, her voice was barely audible due to her mouth being absolutely stuffed with the burger. "I dunno—last time you bought me one."

"That was before you left! You didn't eat a burger at your fancy ass school?"

Lucy shook her head. "No junk food. They had specific diets for everyone. Counted calories, controlled portion sizes." She shrugged as if it were normal. "Lots of salad."

Natsu made a face. "Sounds like hell."

Lucy would've responded, but she was far too busy stuffing her face. She finished the burger in record time—Natsu was impressed—and leaned back, totally satisfied.

Natsu smirked at her. "You've got barbecue sauce on your cheek."

Lucy wiped her right cheek, frowning. "Did I get it?"

He laughed. "No—let me." He leaned across the table, swiping his thumb across her cheek; he scooped up the drop of sauce. And then he stuck his thumb in his mouth and sucked it off, giving her a sly grin afterwards.

Was it bad that he'd just turned her on? The thought made her face go red, and then she proceeded chastising herself silently for the next couple seconds.

Before another thought could ripple through her mind, Lucy leaned back and let out a loud belch. People at the next table over gave her a disgusted glance; they whispered under their breath about how gross that was. Natsu laughed, impressed; Lucy gave him a sheepish smile in response.

By the end of lunch, Lucy had completely taken Natsu's mind off of his beef with Gray; instead, they spent their time laughing and joking around about random things. They had a burping contest—Lucy had forgotten how good she was at burping—and argued about who the real winner was.

But then, the bell rang, and they had to head off to different directions. Lucy gave a wave before dashing to her locker to grab her things.

When she saw Gray, she came up with some lame excuse as to why she could no longer help him with baseball that evening.

Gray frowned. "Did Dragneel ask you to stay away from me?"

"No," Lucy lied. "I just remembered I was supposed to help my dad this evening, and I really don't want to back out of it. Can we do it another day, maybe?"

He narrowed his eyes, but sighed. "Yeah, sure. Just tell me whenever your free."

"Sounds good!" She hollered over her shoulder as she ran off to class, thanking the lord that Gray had believed her terrible lie.

The day flew by; once the dismissal bell rang, Lucy grabbed her things from her locker and met Natsu down by the front doors, like she always did.

Again, it was glaringly clear that Natsu was waiting at one end of the doors, while Gray, Laxus and Gajeel waited for their buses to come directly opposite of him. Lucy gave Natsu a smile, and they started their trek home; she gave the other boys a little wave, and they'd waved back.

Gray flashed Natsu a severe glare; Natsu returned the gesture.

Lucy and Natsu went back to Lucy's house and pigged out. When Lucy's dad questioned Natsu as to why he was always emptying out _their_ fridge, Natsu had shrugged, saying that the Heartfilia's stocked their fridge with better stuff. Jude had laughed, and Lucy had grinned.

Then, they'd gone over to Natsu's house and played video games. Lucy was rusty—quite a while had gone by without practice—and it took her a while to get back into the groove. But, when she figured it out, they were competing yet again, just like they used to when they were kids.

Around seven o'clock, Lucy had sighed, saying that she felt greasy and needed a shower.

"You look greasy," Natsu had joked. "You're icky."

She'd smacked him, and then hauled herself to a standing position. He asked her to come back after she was done showering, and she'd agreed—they were going to watch a movie and then crash at Natsu's place. She took off, excited by the idea of wiping the grime from school off of her body.

Lucy had showered, and then gone into her bedroom to get a change of clothes, careful about not dropping to her underwear this time.

Realizing that it was laundry day and all of her pajamas were filthy, she dug through the back of her closet, desperate to find some sort of sleepwear she could dress in. If she were staying at her own house, she probably would've just slept in her bra and panties, but since she was crashing at Natsu's, she refused to even entertain the possibility.

So, she dug in the back of her closet and came across a better option.

Her old sweatpants.

Lucy tugged them on without hesitation, pulled on an old sweatshirt she'd found stuffed into the back of her closet. She looked at herself in the mirror, frowning.

It was like time had gone backwards, like she'd never gone to prep school at all. Looking at this Lucy, it was hard to believe that she even owned a mini-skirt or knew the details of what made something a princess gown or an empress waistline.

And for some reason, she felt…happy. Comfortable. Like she'd _missed_ the person looking back at her in the mirror.

So, Lucy pulled her hair back into a messy pony, and headed to her door, ready to have a great night with her best friend.

But when she pulled her bedroom door open, there was something in front of it.

Gray stood there, eyes wide, arm up, hand balled into a fist. He'd just been about to knock on her door.

"Gray!" Lucy gasped, surprised. Soon after, a strange nervousness sunk into the pit of her stomach. Natsu had asked her not to hang out with Gray tonight, yet here he was.

"Uh," Gray stammered, caught off guard. "Your dad let me in."

"Oh," Lucy said, forcing a smile. She knew Gray and Natsu were still fighting, and she was desperately hoping that Natsu couldn't see that Gray was currently in Lucy's house from the window. "Is everything okay?"

"Well." He hesitated. "Not really."

Lucy frowned, noticing how… _strange_ Gray looked. He looked rather upset, like something was really bothering him, something more than the fight with Natsu. "What's wrong, Gray?"

Gray sighed. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Lucy said, blinking. She ushered the boy into her room, eyes immediately darting to her window. Natsu was nowhere in sight; she breathed a sigh of relief. "What's up?"

Lucy took a seat on the edge of her bed, and Gray sort of paced anxiously in front of her. "Lucy, I know this really isn't any of my business, but…do you like Natsu?"

Lucy froze; she felt her face get hot, and she hoped her cheeks hadn't gone red. "What?"

Gray turned, shoulders square with hers. His eyes were intense. "Do you like him? I mean, more than a friend?"

Her mouth fell open slightly; she blinked four times. "Uh…"

Well, did she? I mean, he was her best friend since the second she'd moved into the neighborhood when she was five years old and the only person she'd ever gotten truly close and comfortable with. He was the only person she'd told secrets to and he was the only person who knew exactly what she was thinking and he was the only person she'd ever allowed herself to cry in front of—like, _really_ cry in front of.

Natsu was the guy she'd talked to until five in the morning and he was the boy she watched movies with until they fell asleep and he was the boy who always came over, took care of her when things were bad. And he'd hold her when she cried, and he'd buy her chocolate when she got her period and he was everything she'd ever needed.

He'd stolen her heart the second he'd knocked on her door. But he'd also been the boy to break her heart at the dance.

So, she'd loved him before, obviously. But were those feelings still there?

Natsu was cute and he was handsome and yes, she couldn't help but admire his attractiveness but did she _like_ him? Did she have feelings for him?

Gray awaited an answer.

Lucy knew the answer. _Of course_ she liked him. She loved him back then, and she loved him now—that's why it had hurt so much when he'd broken her heart.

And that's why she was so fucking determined to make Natsu find her attractive, to make Natsu ogle her body and make him see what he'd been missing out on all of those years. But he never noticed and _that's_ why she was disappointed. Because she wanted him. Not just revenge, but him.

"I, uh…"

Gray shook his head, impatient. "Look—it's just, I need to know for myself. Because I want to ask you out, Lucy, and I want to take you on a date. And I would never want to intrude on something if you did like him. I wouldn't want to disrespect your feelings like that."

Lucy stared at him, in complete shock. Disrespect her feelings? This was coming from the kid that asked her to the dance in middle school and ditched her at the front doors. This was the kid that told her she was wearing an ugly dress, for god's sake!

People could change. _Clearly_. After all, how many times had Lucy changed? She'd been a tomboy, left for a year, and come back as a freakin' homecoming queen. And then what? She spent maybe, what, a couple weeks with Natsu, and here she was disregarding everything that had influenced her at prep school. She wasn't wearing makeup and her hair was in a ponytail and she was wearing _sweatpants_. People could change, and Lucy was leading the troops.

"You're asking me out?" Lucy stammered, not knowing what else to say.

She couldn't just tell him the truth. She couldn't. What was she supposed to say? No, I don't want to date you, Gray, because I've been in love with Natsu since I was five years old even though he doesn't think of me as a woman, let alone romantically? Of course not.

"Yes," Gray breathed, clearly nervous. He didn't meet her eyes. "I am."

"Oh," Lucy said back, still dealing with the shock running through her veins.

Gray looked up at her through his eyelashes, cheeks red and eyes wide and chest heaving slightly as he took shallow breaths. "And your answer?"

"Well," Lucy mumbled out, eyes darting to the ground and then to her hands and then to her window. Natsu wasn't there. She couldn't see him. God, she wished he was there. She wished he'd crash through the door and bail her out of this situation, save her. But he didn't, and time moved forward, and Gray wanted an answer. "I, um…"

Lucy looked at the boy before her. He was nice enough. Friendly. Funny. Cute, clearly—the girls at school went wild for his good looks. Why shouldn't she date him?

She already knew the answer. He wasn't Natsu.

But Natsu didn't show any interest and he saw her as a little brother. And that was the whole reason she'd left, right? Because she was sick of being the little brother? And now she'd come back and Gray was giving her the attention she'd always craved and he thought she was pretty and he complimented her outfits when she dressed up nicely. Gray was giving Lucy everything that she'd yearned for all these years. So, why not?

So, she took Levy's advice and she went for the guy that was showing interest.

"Sure, why not?" Lucy sputtered out, eyes flashing up the black haired boy's.

Gray was frozen in place and then his face lit up and he looked so happy he might explode. His cheeks went pink and he grinned—but then stopped, trying to contain himself and maintain his _cool_ image. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "So…tomorrow, then? 8:00?"

Lucy nodded, hands clammy and stomach tight. "Sounds great."

If it sounded so great, why the hell did she feel so… _heavy?_

"I'll see you then." Gray gave her a smile and then left, letting himself out of the house.

Lucy sat there for a long time afterwards, frozen in place, feeling like she could puke.

She tried to convince herself she was doing the right thing. Gray showed interest, Natsu didn't. Gray thought she was pretty, Natsu thought she was his little brother. She was following Levy's advice, going after everything she'd always wanted.

Why did it feel so… _wrong?_

And then, after what felt like an hour in Lucy's mind but was in reality only 45 seconds, a voice came through the can dangling from her windowsill. Lucy's stomach jumped and she lurched towards it, holding the little can to her ear.

"Luce?"

Lucy flinched. Guilt hit her body like a freight train. "Natsu?" She whispered into the can.

He sounded…different. "Hey."

She still couldn't see him from the window—he must be down below, laying on the ground. He must have been there the whole time. That's why she couldn't see him before…

"How much of that did you hear?" Lucy asked, throat tight and aching.

There was a pause. "All of it." Natsu's voice was deep. Off. Wrong.

Lucy felt like crying. Everything felt wrong. She'd done the wrong thing—she'd betrayed her own feelings. And now, it felt like, for some reason, she'd betrayed the boy behind the window.

"I'm sorry," Lucy whispered. She wasn't sure why she said that. Was she supposed to be sorry? It's not like she owed Natsu anything. They weren't dating. They weren't even close. It wasn't like she'd actually betrayed him or cheated on him or anything like that. But why did it _feel_ like she had?

His voice was quiet, but he was forcing himself to sound upbeat. He wasn't acting like himself at all. "Are you gonna come over, or am I gonna watch this movie by myself?"

Lucy could hear something wrong in his voice, like there was a twang of something hidden. "I'll be right over."

So, she went over. They watched the movie. They chatted. They fell asleep in Natsu's bed.

But it wasn't the same. Because Lucy spent the whole night at war with herself—because she was _allowed_ to date Gray, but it felt so horribly wrong at the same time. And because Natsu wasn't himself. He was different. He was…sad. Quiet. Hidden beneath a mask he'd put on.

Lucy fell asleep first. He watched her for a bit, tucked her in, made sure she was warm and comfortable. And when she started to snore—that's how Natsu knew she was in a deep sleep—and he was sure she wouldn't wake up, he kissed her forehead and snuggled up to her, wrapped his arm over her side and tucking his chin on her shoulder, spooning her.

He hugged her tight, knowing that this was probably the last time this would ever happen. No more sleepovers, no more late night movies, no more ice cream and chocolate and staying up late talking.

Because she was going on a date with Gray. And that would turn into a relationship. And that would turn into Lucy and Gray, falling in love.

And there was no room in a relationship for the best friend.

Especially not when he was falling so fucking hard for her.


	11. Feelings Suck And I Hate Myself

_**A/N:**_ _ **A few Natsu thoughts for you all! Hope you like it. Please review, try to be kind :)**_

He was miserable. He'd never been this upset before—not even about baseball. And _that_ meant something.

He didn't want to eat, he didn't want to sleep. Even the idea of playing baseball bored him—something that had never occurred before. The only activities Natsu was even slightly interested in involved punching Gray in the jaw and talking to Lucy.

He _could_ talk to Lucy, sure. That one was easy. Except his stomach was in knots and his heart started to hurt whenever he saw her and now, _today_ , he didn't think he could.

And yes, he could also punch Gray in the jaw, but he knew that would tick Lucy off, and he never wanted to do that. Besides, did he even have the _right_ to be upset? Gray asked Lucy out, Lucy said yes. Not really anything wrong there.

Except that it was wrong. Everything was wrong. Everything hurt. His heart, his lungs, his ribs, his head…

When he'd woken up, Lucy was long gone. He'd slept in. He vaguely remembered her shaking him, trying to jolt him awake; after a while, she'd headed off, refusing to be late yet again because of him. He didn't even try to wake up, go to school. He was too tired, too mad, too sad.

He hadn't slept very much last night; the thought of Lucy and Gray, out on a date…it shook him.

Everything—all of these feelings, stirring inside of his stomach—all boiled down to him and Gray fighting. None of this would've happened had he not had one simple conversation with Gray.

It happened yesterday, first block. Gray sat down beside Natsu and said he needed to ask him something. Natsu had shrugged, told him to ask away. What he heard next changed everything.

"Do you mind if I ask Lucy out?"

Natsu had blinked for a second, sputtering out some stupid response. "You wanna… _what?_ "

"Yeah," Gray had nodded, continuing. "I know you guys are close, and I didn't want it to make anything weird by me and her getting together without notice, so I thought it would be good to let you know first."

Natsu's face had twisted up into a stupid look. His hands were fists, and he wasn't really sure why. "Why do you wanna ask her out?"

Gray had given the pink haired boy a funny look. "Because…I _like_ her?"

Natsu crossed his arms. "Well—I mean." He paused. "I don't think it's such a good idea."

Gray frowned, now. "You don't?"

"No."

"Why's that?"

"Because," Natsu had huffed out under his breath. "You're just…you're not a good match. You'll date and then you'll break up and everything will be weird."

Gray raised an eyebrow. "What if we don't break up?"

Natsu's eyes dropped to the ground for a split second as he muttered the words quietly. "Even worse."

Gray's frown grew; his eyes searched his best friend. "Do you like her, or somethin'?"

Natsu's eyes widened. " _What?_ No!"

"Then what's your problem?"

"It's _Lucy!_ " Natsu cried. "You can't date Lucy!"

"Give me a good reason why I can't!" Gray fought back.

Natsu's mouth opened, but nothing came out for a solid ten seconds. "It's just—you know! She's our friend and she's my _best_ friend, and I don't think—"

"Maybe I want to be _more_ than friends with her!"

"Well, you can't!" Natsu spat back. "Not her! Go for someone else!"

Gray's expression was cold, now. "So, lemme get this straight. You don't want me to date Lucy, and your only reasoning behind it is because ' _she's Lucy'_?"

Natsu's eyebrows tugged down. "Uh, yes?"

Of course, by this point, Natsu already knew what was going on. The jealousy and protectiveness swirling within his gut was notifying him of something he'd already become aware of: his affection for Lucy.

He'd tried to ignore it up until that point, pretended it didn't exist. Because it was Lucy, for god's sake! His best friend since he was five! He couldn't _like_ her, not like that. It was wrong. It was stupid. It was setting himself up for a lifetime of heartache.

So, he'd tucked the feelings away, pushed them to the back of his mind. Because she would never want him like that and the thoughts were a waste of time and she was so out of his league. And it was Lucy! The idea that he liked _Luce_ , his partner in crime, his best friend for life, the person that was basically a _family member_ …well, it was sort of bothersome. It irked him. He felt like a jackass.

She'd wear all these skimpy clothes and he'd practically have to stare at the clouds all day long because she was so pretty and so attractive, but she was _Lucy_. And he felt like a pervert for noticing her cleavage and he felt like a douchebag for looking at her long legs, so he refused to allow himself to even _notice_ her body. She was Lucy. He wasn't supposed to admire her pretty hair or grin to himself when she bent over, because this was his best friend and he wasn't about to objectify her. He had to control himself. _It was Lucy_.

So he tried to forget that he loved the way her laugh sounded and he tried to forget how great her body looked and he tried to erase the many thoughts about her eyes from his brain. Because it was Lucy, and he wasn't allowed to think of her like that.

And it didn't help that sometimes she wore her hair pulled back and she looked just like she did when she was little, because the memories only made his heart ache more. The fact that she was his best friend and knew everything about him only made him like her more and more, and seeing her like _that_ , with her hair pulled back and her old sweatpants on, well, it almost made him want to cry. Because she was his Lucy still, and he'd missed her so much when she was gone, and she meant the world to him.

But he focused on forgetting. He had to, out of respect for his best friend.

And then Gray showed up and said all of that, and it just kickstarted everything Natsu had tried to forget. The feelings in his chest and the ache in the pit of his stomach and all of the intricate thoughts about Lucy's eyes and hair and the way she snored when she slept came straight to the forefront of his mind.

Gray got mad, saying Natsu was just trying to hold him back, that he was being stupid. Gray left and Natsu yelled at him as he walked away.

He did feel bad, though. Lucy was beautiful and funny and perfect. Why wouldn't Gray want to date her? But the idea of Lucy with someone else, the idea of her hugging Gray and kissing Gray…well, he couldn't handle it.

Maybe that was wrong. Because he couldn't control Lucy, he couldn't stop her from dating boys. He wasn't in charge of her like that. But in that moment, in that single second of weakness, he yelled at Gray and got mad at him for seeing Lucy like that—such hypocrisy—and he wanted to kill him.

Because Lucy was _his_.

She wasn't. Not even at all. And he felt like such a jackass for even having that idea planted in his head.

Gray went off and told Gajeel and Laxus what happened, and they took his side. They thought that Natsu wasn't being fair, that Gray should have the opportunity to take a chance with Lucy. And Natsu didn't blame them, honestly. He knew they were right. Gray did deserve that chance. But he just couldn't do it. He just couldn't give Gray his blessing, let him go forth and ask Lucy on a date. He felt like such a dick, but what was he supposed to do? Happily send Lucy off to fall in love with _Gray?_

No. So he was a dick and he was grumpy about it. He sat on the far end of the cafeteria. He didn't want to see Gray, didn't want to think about his stupid face. He didn't want to imagine Gray going out with Lucy, holding her hand, kissing her cheek. The thought made him want to throw up.

He asked Lucy not to hang out with Gray tonight, because he knew that's when Gray would ask. She didn't understand and he begged her not to ask any questions, because he wouldn't know what to say. She'd ask why she couldn't hang out with Gray, and he'd say what? _Because he's gonna ask you out and I can't let that happen because I think I'm falling in love with you?_ He couldn't.

But she didn't ask any questions and she didn't hang out with Gray and Natsu thought that maybe everything would be fine, for now. Obviously Gray would ask at another point, but maybe Natsu would have dealt with his feelings by then. Maybe his crush would go away and maybe it would be okay.

He was lying to himself, because he knew it wasn't just a crush and he knew it wasn't about to go away, but there was no point focusing on that.

He hung out with Lucy and everything was going fine, because she was there with him and she was laughing and smiling and he was so happy he thought he might die. She went home to shower and he waited there, laying on his bed and smiling up at the roof.

He'd never done that before, smiled up at the ceiling because of a girl. He supposed that's what falling in love with someone did to you—affected you so much more than a simple crush on some random girl.

But then there was movement out of the corner of his eye and Natsu saw Lucy open her bedroom door. Gray was there. Natsu's heart pounded and his hands were balled into fists very suddenly and the urge to punch the kid was back. But he couldn't do that, so instead he just dropped to the ground, laying on his stomach so that Gray wouldn't see him through the window.

He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, not at first. He'd just happened to lay near the can that dangled from his windowsill, and he'd heard the whispers of their conversation. So, after a second, he'd grabbed the can, knuckles white, and held it to his ear, straining to listen.

Gray asked Lucy if she liked Natsu. She seemed shocked that he would even ask. Natsu felt his heart drop, his whole body ache with the kind of disappointment that boils your blood, gets stuck in your veins, kills you.

Gray asked her on a date. She'd gone quiet for a while, and then responded. She'd said yes.

Lucy was going to go on a date with Gray.

Natsu was furious with Gray for still going through with asking—even though he totally understood it at the same time—and he was disappointed and upset and just everything, all emotions all at once. He wanted to cry and he wanted to punch something and he wanted to punch himself, because why was he so goddamn mad if he hadn't even made a move himself? But he couldn't, because it was his best friend and he wasn't about to go and make a move on his best friend, because that would be reading into the situation wrong and taking advantage of their closeness. So, he was stuck in a box, and that had lead to this whole mess.

Gray had left and Lucy had gone silent, and Natsu's heart was hurting but he was worried about her, because why was she so quiet? Weren't girls usually happy about this sort of thing? So he grabbed his can and he called her name.

She responded pretty quickly, but her voice was different. Almost…afraid. Like she wanted Natsu's approval, like she wanted to know if things were okay.

So rather than be a dick and try and control her life and stop her from dating boys, Natsu gave in. She was his best friend and she needed him to be okay with her dating a guy and even though it sort of killed him, he gave it to her. He couldn't hide the sadness in his voice but he asked her if she was coming back over for another movie or something—he wasn't sure, his mind was jumbled—hoping that it would express his approval.

He would step back, let them date, let them fall in love. It wasn't his place to make decisions for her, he was just there to support her. After all, she'd said yes to Gray—that must mean that she liked him, had a crush on him. Who was Natsu to say Lucy couldn't go out with the guy she liked? So he stopped being mad at Gray and he desperately tried to stop the disappointment from taking over his body.

She'd come over and they'd watched a movie and they'd fallen asleep in his bed and he'd hugged her tight to his chest because he knew things would be different now. He _couldn't_ love her, not when she was going out with Gray. It would be horrible of him to think about how pretty her eyes were when she was dating Gray. He had to stop.

And there wouldn't be sleepovers or movie nights anymore, because you can't do that, not with the boy next door when you've got a boyfriend. So he hugged her tight and tried to lock in these memories one last time.

When he woke up, she was gone. He'd slept in. He vaguely remembered her prodding at him, trying to wake him up, but to no avail; she'd headed off, refusing to be late again. And Natsu had slept, too upset and angry with himself for feeling like this in the first place to go to school.

And when he was finally ready to get out of bed, he didn't go to class. He grabbed his baseball bat and his mitt and headed off to the diamond, to his favorite place in the world.

He didn't even want to play baseball, which struck him as horrifying. He hit the ball around for an hour or two, and then went back home. He turned his lights off and put a movie in and tried not to think about Lucy, or Gray, or Lucy and Gray together.

When school ended, Lucy came home. She talked to him through the can, asking him why he didn't show, that she was worried. Natsu said he wasn't feeling well, that he might have a stomach bug or something. Lucy looked worried and said maybe she should stay home, not go out tonight, take care of him.

As much as he wanted to take her up on the offer, Natsu shrugged it off and told her that that would be a waste of time. He told her to have fun on her date. The words burnt his tongue as they left his lips, but he gave her a sad little smile and tried really hard to sell him being happy for her.

Lucy smiled back and asked if she could show him a couple outfits. She couldn't decide on what to wear on the date and she needed his help.

 _Why don't you just kill me?_ Natsu asked, the idea strangling him, but he nodded and wrapped his blanket around his shoulders and perched himself at his window.

She'd go to her bathroom and come out in an outfit, and Natsu would rate it out of ten.

They were all tens, but he told her to wear this pretty red dress that made her blonde hair pop. He imagined her wearing that on a date with him, and his heart nearly burst. She looked so pretty. Gray was a lucky man.

Before Natsu knew it, it was nearly time for Lucy's date, and she left her windowsill, leaving him behind, to go finish touching up. She did her makeup and curled her hair and wore high heels. She looked beautiful, but Natsu preferred sweatpants and a ponytail.

Her doorbell rang and she gave him a nervous grin and he wished her good luck. She left and Natsu stared at her bedroom for a little bit, feeling a little dead inside, before he turned back and went and laid in bed.

He tried not to be upset. She was happy, so he should be happy for her. She was going out on a date with the boy she liked. As her best friend, he was supposed to be overjoyed.

But instead he was just… _not_. And he felt awful about it.

So he figured he'd go to sleep, deal with his thoughts tomorrow.

When Lucy came home from her date, feet aching from her heels and hair falling out of the perfect plait she'd constructed, all she wanted to do was see Natsu.

The date had been fine and Gray had been a perfect gentleman and they'd chatted all evening, but the feeling in her gut still hadn't changed. It felt wrong. He felt wrong. He was nice and charming and lovely, but he wasn't right. She felt like she'd betrayed herself by saying yes, and she felt even worse when she got home from the date.

Gray was nice, but he wasn't Natsu.

So, she'd dashed up the stairs, desperate to land her eyes on the pink haired boy that lived next door. She knew he'd calm her down, make her feel better even without knowing how messed up she felt. He didn't need to know—Natsu naturally calmed her down just with his presence.

She pushed past her door, mouth open, a smile touching her lips as she prepared to see him.

But then she stopped, frozen in her tracks and she looked out her window.

She couldn't see into his room. His curtains were pulled shut, blocking her out.

In the many years they'd been neighbors, Natsu's curtains had only shut once—and that was when the boys had caught Lucy in her underwear and Natsu had hurriedly pulled them closed to protect her innocence. But now, they were shut. It was a bizarre feeling, looking out her window and seeing the plaid fabric where Natsu's face should be.

Lucy's heart dropped and she went to the bathroom and wiped the makeup off, wiped her fake face off. She pulled her hair out and brushed it, then pulled it back into a pony. She grabbed her old sweatpants and tugged them on, and then went back into her room, feeling so much more comfortable now.

Curtains still closed.

It wasn't a sight she could get used to.

A little upset, she went to bed. She fell asleep immediately, the stress of the day taking its toll on her.


	12. And She's Back

He couldn't stop the way he felt, but he sure as hell was going to try.

Natsu had sat down, thought long and hard about the situation and everything that was stirring inside of him. He had to think, come up with a gameplan for the future, figure out his strategy as he went forwards.

Clearly, Lucy liked Gray. He'd asked her out and she said yes. She'd gotten all dressed up, decked herself out completely, looked ravishing, and gone out with him. As much as Natsu would love to convince himself that Lucy _didn't_ like Gray, the facts were against him.

And Gray obviously liked Lucy. What wasn't there to like?

And Natsu liked her, too. Except he wasn't supposed to and he felt like a real creep. He was supposed to be her big brother figure, and here was, laying in bed at night thinking about her lips and her eyes and her hair, and—

He had to focus.

So, he liked her. But it was a lost cause, because she liked Gray and she was _Lucy_ and she was far too good for him, so he had to give it up. He had to change his feelings. He had to stop all of these feelings, stop them in their tracks, out of respect for his two friends.

They were happy together, so he should be happy for them. But he couldn't be happy for them if he was sitting there, crying in his room while Lucy went out with Gray and kissed him and had a blast. So, he had to stop it, cold turkey.

No more liking Lucy. Easy.

So, when the night was coming to a close and Lucy would probably be getting home from her first date with Gray, Natsu pulled his curtains shut. The action was horrifyingly difficult for him—the idea of cutting Lucy off, closing her out appalled him. It took him ten minutes to close the damn things.

But it was for the best. Because he knew if he saw her in that red dress again, it would break him. And if they chatted all night, and she changed into her pajamas and put her hair up, he knew he'd fall absolutely in love with her. And the whole _forgetting his feelings_ thing would just break his heart _that_ much more.

So he closed the curtains and he slammed his head under his pillow and he swore at himself until he fell asleep, because fuck his stupid emotions. Why Lucy? Why'd he have to love Lucy?

He tried to sleep. He was awake for a while, tossing and turning, because he finally knew exactly how it felt to be desperately in love with someone. Horrible. It felt horrible. He fell asleep around midnight, face smushed into his pillow, sweaty.

He could've slept for days, honestly. He was so mentally exhausted nothing even mattered anymore.

But he was awoken around three in the morning by the sound of his bedroom door swinging open and the sound of feet scuffling nearby.

Natsu had jolted awake, hopping up, heart pounding. _An intruder_. His hands balled into fists and he brought them up, his natural fighting instincts taking over.

"Jesus!" A little voice cried as he jumped to his feet. "Natsu, chill out. It's me."

Natsu's head cocked to the side and he frowned into the darkness, unable to see. "Luce?"

"Who else would be in your room at three AM?"

Natsu shrugged. "Burglar."

"Well, I'm not a burglar."

He blinked, voice tight. Being in the same room as her was hard—he was trying to desperately contain his thoughts, trying not to think of her as a person he was in love with. He was trying to see her as a friend, nothing more.

He had thought it wouldn't be hard. But she was in his bedroom and he was just wearing boxers and he could even _see_ her but her voice was enough to make him love her even more. Natsu sighed, knowing that stopping himself from loving her was going to be the hardest thing he'd ever have to do.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

"I couldn't sleep. I…I had a nightmare."

His heart surged protectively. "About?"

Lucy hesitated for a moment, and without even seeing her, Natsu knew she was looking at the ground. "You died."

"Ah." Natsu leaned back a little. "So, you had to come see if I was still alive, huh?"

"No."

The boy frowned. "Oh. Then why are you here?"

Lucy held up her arms, revealing what she'd brought even though it was too dark for Natsu to see. "I'm sleeping here. I brought my pillow."

Oh, no. This was too hard. He couldn't do it. How was he supposed to _not_ love her, not think about her, not have these feelings when she was here, with her pillow, wanting to stay the night? His chest was warm and his cheeks felt a little hot and he was so happy that she'd come to him, that she'd wanted to be with him, but it was horrible. He slammed his eyes shut, trying to focus on Lucy being his _best friend_ , nothing more.

But what was he supposed to say? _No, go home_? Not likely.

So he gave in, figured he'd start with the whole _not love Lucy_ thing tomorrow, when he had a clear mind. For tonight, he'd love her with all of his might, and deal with reality tomorrow.

This would be his last night with Lucy, like this. After tonight…he couldn't love her anymore. He _wouldn't_. For her sake. And Gray's.

Natsu sighed, flicking his wrist and beckoning her forwards. "C'mon, then."

He jumped back onto his bed, landing on his stomach; he tucked his hands under his pillows and stuffed his face in the fabric, breathing in his own scent, desperately trying to stop thinking about how pretty Lucy smelt.

"Yay!" She quipped, crawling onto the bed beside Natsu. She set her pillow up on her side and lifted the blankets, crawling underneath them. Her leg grazed Natsu's, sending him into a mental frenzy. Once she was nice and settled, she flopped onto her side, propping her head up on her hand; she looked at Natsu expectantly.

He could feel her gaze on the back of his head. He turned slightly, peeking out from his pillow. "What?"

She sighed unhappily.

Natsu grumbled under his breath, turning and laying on his side, knowing she was being grumpy because he wasn't paying attention to her. She was always like this; when they had sleepovers, he'd put his face in the pillow, ready for bed, but she'd want to chat. And she'd sigh, just like she had just now, waiting for him to chat with her.

So, he played along. He did what she asked for. He turned on his side, faced her. "How was your date?" The words were like a stab in his chest, but she wanted to talk, and that's all that his mind could focus on.

Lucy shrugged. "It was okay."

"Just okay?"

"We went out for dinner. I had this pasta—like white sauce fettucine, but it had these _scallops_ on them, and it was so fucking good. You have no idea. We gotta go there sometime this week, just so you can eat those scallops."

Natsu made a face. "Luce, I don't care about what you ate. How was the _date_?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know—we talked. It was nice."

Natsu's chest tightened. "He kiss you on your porch?"

Lucy made a face. "No."

"You didn't make a move or anything?"

"My dad was watching through the window! Besides, you think that's something I would do?"

"Nah," Natsu said, laughing. Lucy would never make the first move, not with a kiss. He'd known that. She was too shy. "So, you guys going out on a second date?"

"I don't know. Why are you so nosy?"

"My two best friends go out on a date, and I can't even ask how it went?"

"Alright, alright," Lucy said, holding her hands up in defense, a grin on her lips. "You're right. I'm sorry. How was your night?"

Torturous. Painful. Awful. "It was fine."

There was a pause, and the entire vibe of the room changed along with Lucy's expression; her grin faded away, and her face crumbled, revealing a look of worry and anxiety. The silence was deafeningly loud, incredibly obvious.

"Natsu?" Lucy whispered nearly two minutes later, voice sounding upset.

He hated hearing her like that. When she was upset, it got to him. His protective side came out. He wanted to kill whatever bothered her. It had always been like this—this wasn't a thing that had happened just because he was in love with her. No, he'd _always_ been this protective of Lucy.

Sometimes, he'd protect her without her even knowing it. In middle school, some of the guys in the change room would be making fun of her, saying she looked like a boy. Natsu would freak out at them, get mad at them. The boys would leave the change room with battered limbs, covered in bruises.

Sometimes, he'd hear some girls saying Lucy was weird, or something. And he'd lose it, yet again. He'd tell them they were rude, they were bitchy, they weren't worth anyone's time. And they'd cry, because Natsu was the most popular boy in school and he'd just been _so_ mean to them, but he didn't care, because no one was mean to Lucy and got away with it, not if he could help it.

But now, she was sitting in his bed and she was being really quiet and acting funny, and he knew why. Because he'd closed his curtains. He'd closed her out.

He wanted to protect her, but he'd been the one to make her upset. How ironic.

"Yeah?" He croaked out, knowing what was coming.

When Lucy spoke, her voice was timid. Reserved. "Why'd you close your curtains on me?"

The air was heavy, and he felt like he was choking on it.

"I, uh…" Natsu's voice was deep, throaty. "I thought, maybe, Gray would come back up to your room, and um, wanted to give you…privacy."

Another long moment without speaking.

"Pinky promise?"

"What?" Natsu turned to her, eyes locking with hers in the dark. He'd adjusted enough to see her, now.

Lucy was sticking her little pinky finger at him, eyebrows lifted. "You heard me. Pinky promise your telling the truth."

Natsu chuckled a little at first, but it gave way to silence; his eyes landed on hers, dark as can be. He couldn't lie to her. He couldn't pinky promise that he was telling the truth—because he wasn't. He didn't close his curtains to give them privacy. He'd closed his curtains to get away from her, to try and create a gap because he couldn't continue on being so in love with her when she loved Gray.

He didn't wrap his pinky finger around her. The silence was pounding in his ears, deafening him. After a couple moments, Lucy's little pinky finger dropped down to her side, her eyes still watching the pink haired boy carefully.

So, she knew he was lying. She knew he didn't close them to give her privacy. She made the connections quickly, understanding that something was off and that he hadn't wanted to see her. She'd jumped to the conclusion that he wasn't exactly pleased with her and Gray going on a date.

She knew he wasn't okay with it. He could see the understanding in her eyes as she realized. He cringed, turning so that he was laying on his back now, eyes on the ceiling. He was embarrassed. Lucy knew he didn't want her and Gray together, and that would only lead her to the next conclusion: Natsu was in love with her.

He didn't want to see her face when she realized, so he grimaced up at the ceiling, listening to the silence.

"Why, then?" She wanted to hear him say it, hear him explain things. She didn't want to assume anything. She needed to hear the words come from his mouth.

Natsu cringed again. "I don't know."

"Pinky promise."

Again, he couldn't. Natsu sighed. "Look—what's with the interrogation?"

Lucy shrugged. "Just answer the question, Natsu."

His expression twisted up into a bitter frown, and he glared up at the ceiling, still not brave enough to meet her eyes. "How about you answer _my_ questions, okay? Let's make this fair."

"Fine," Lucy spat, voice tinged with annoyance in response to his harsh tone. "Ask away. But then you answer my question, got it?"

"Fine," Natsu grumbled. He swallowed, the lump in his throat only feeling like it was growing; his stomach ached a little bit. He had lots of things he wanted to ask her—if she liked Gray, if they'd actually kissed, stuff like that. But that wasn't what came out of his mouth. No, the _real_ question he wanted to ask came out. The question that had been stuck in his mind for ages, now.

When Natsu said the words, his voice was deep, rocky. Sad.

"Why'd you leave me like that?" He asked, still looking up at the ceiling. "Just…one night. You just went, hardly any notice. You just…left." His voice cracked and he closed his eyes, every ounce of pain he felt from that night coming back and hitting him, full-force. "Why'd you leave me?"

Lucy sat there, watching her best friend, watching the tears begin to well up in his eyes. And it made her chest feel heavy and her veins felt like they were filled with concrete and she felt miserable because _he_ was miserable.

She didn't know she'd hurt him this much. She had no idea the effect she'd had on him by leaving…

"I just…I never meant to leave like that. I just had to go." Lucy closed her eyes, knowing that she'd given him a shitty answer. He deserved the truth, but…she couldn't say it. The words wouldn't form. She couldn't tell him everything.

"Why?" He turned, wet eyes focused on her, now. "I don't get it."

Lucy met his gaze, then dropped her eyes to her hands. "I just felt like…I was the wrong person. Because my dad always wanted a little princess, y'know? But I always figured that was stupid, that I didn't need to be a princess, because I was perfectly happy being one of the boys, with you. But then you went to the dance with Lisanna and Gray ditched me and everyone thought my dress was ugly. I don't know. It all sort of fell apart. So I thought maybe I needed to change—go to that prep school and just do a complete 180. I thought maybe it would make things better. Make me better. More important, or something."

Natsu frowned. "Me going to the dance with Lisanna?" He blinked. "That bothered you?"

Lucy swallowed. "Well, I don't know. Me and you always went to the dances together, but that year…" She trailed off. She couldn't explain it fully—there was no way she could tell him that he'd broken her heart that night.

But he could sense something by her expression, by her expression. It was more than him just ditching her. He knew it. But he didn't press her on it.

His voice was soft. "I had no idea you were upset about it," He murmured. "I didn't even realize. God, I'm such a jackass."

Lucy shrugged, eyes flickering up to his. "Nah. You were just all caught up in Lisanna. _Cutest girl in school_ , or whatever." Lucy paused. "Whatever happened to her?"

"She still goes to our school. She's my bio lab partner, actually."

"You guys still together, or something?" Lucy tried to sound casual about it.

Natsu snorted. "Nah—we dated for like, four days, or something. She dumped me in the parking lot."

Lucy tried to hide her smile. "Four days, huh?"

"It was grade eight."

"Why'd she dump you?"

Natsu smirked. "She thought Gray was cuter."

"Ouch!" Lucy cried, laughing. "That must've stung."

"She dated Gray for a week, or something. Dumped him for someone else."

"What a hoe."

Natsu laughed. "It was grade eight. I don't think anyone can be a hoe in grade eight." He paused. "She's pretty nice, now. A good friend."

Lucy laughed, but this news hit her kind of hard. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because it was that single instant that had set her off on this entire path—the one where she left, left everyone behind, and totally altered who she truly was as a person—and it had turned out to be nothing. Lisanna and Natsu dated for four days, that was it. And Lucy had left and betrayed herself, forced herself to be this little princess.

But maybe it was good. Maybe going away had done her good. Maybe it was what she needed.

She wasn't sure. But now…she felt silly. Like she'd overreacted. But then, she had to remind herself that _no_ , she hadn't overreacted. He'd broken her heart that night. She'd hated being the little brother. She'd left for a purpose, and she'd followed through. It was good she left. Wasn't it?

The silence settled between them, the lightness in the air slipping away, tugging them back into seriousness.

Natsu pulled himself up to a sitting position, fiddling with his thumbs for a bit, before he looked over to Lucy. He seemed to have picked up on her hesitation to talk about that night at the dance. "It really bothered you, didn't it?"

"What?" Lucy asked, playing dumb. She didn't want to have this conversation.

"Me and Lisanna, going together."

Lucy swallowed. "You ditched me, Natsu."

He was frowning. "You were there, later on. I saw you. You were running away."

Lucy's eyes closed as she cringed. She'd been banking on him _not_ remembering that tidbit of information.

The memories hit her hard, and it was like she was back in the middle school gym, watching the scene play out before her. _Crimson and Clover_ by Tommy James and the Shondells was blasting out over the entire room, over the crowd of kids all paired up in couples. The lights bounced off of the giant papier-mâché whale that hung above. Natsu was dancing with Lisanna, holding her close. And then, they kissed. And Lucy wanted to die. So she ran. She ran past the couple, past her best friend—who frowned at her, noticing her immediately—all the way home. She told her dad she wanted to go to the prep school. She wanted to be the cutest girl in school, she wanted to be the girl that a boy kissed at the dance. She wanted to be the girl everyone wanted.

Lucy grimaced. "I came—I thought I'd at least get a dance with you, or something."

Natsu was frowning at her, not understanding. "Why'd you run away?"

The unhappiness settled into her chest, and it was clear on her face. Her lips pulled down as she spoke, the memories awakening the pain she'd hidden away all this time. "I saw…I saw you kiss her, Natsu."

His dark eyes flashed to her immediately, something…indescribable in them. Horror? Fear? Pain? Worry? Lucy couldn't tell. But he was quiet for a long second and he just watched her, just ran his eyes over and over her face. And maybe her eyes were starting to get a little wet, because of the memories. His expression deepened, and it bothered her that she didn't know what the fuck he was thinking.

Natsu's big hands came forward and he grabbed her hands tightly and he squeezed her fingers a little, eyes still trained on hers. "I'm sorry," He whispered, voice catching as he spoke. "I didn't know."

"It's okay," Lucy mumbled back, eyes looking down at his big hands holding hers.

"That's why you left?" He croaked, clearly upset. "Because of me?"

"Natsu." Lucy looked up to him. "It wasn't just the dance, okay? That's not it."

"Then what was it?"

"It was just… _me_." She sighed. "I was so sick of being the little brother. I was so sick of everything just actively _agreeing_ that I was ugly and that I had ugly clothes and that I stunk like a baseball team. I wanted to be the pretty one, just for once."

That seemed to bother him. "You were always pretty, Luce."

"Don't say that," She muttered back. "You're saying that now, now that I went to that school and learned how to match colors and pick out outfits."

"No," Natsu protested, dark eyes intense on her face. "I _always_ thought you were pretty, Luce. Always. Didn't you ever notice how pretty you were?"

She raised her eyebrows, lifting her pinky up. "Pinky promise."

Without hesitation, he wrapped his pinky around hers. "Pinky promise."

That caught her off guard; she stared at their intertwined pinkies for a long moment.

So, she'd done everything…for nothing? Here, she'd wanted to be pretty and be the one everyone wanted and now she found out that the one person she'd wanted the whole time _had_ thought she was pretty?

So she'd gone to school, wiped herself clean, destroyed herself just for _nothing?_ She'd given up her favorite hobbies and trained herself to only eat fucking salad and forced herself to learn to love dresses and florals because of _nothing?_

The little tomboy inside of her, the old Lucy that was hidden deep down was screaming at her, trying to wake her up. It was like Natsu's words had turned on a switch, like he'd just completely woken up the old Lucy. She'd been slowly coming back, but now, she was _there_.

Both Lucy's. Full force at the front, battling it out in her mind.

She wasn't sure who would win. Girly Lucy? Tomboy? She didn't know.

She was so stupid. She'd ran off for a year and a half and betrayed herself, ruined herself, forced herself to be something she wasn't just for something as stupid as being _pretty?_ She'd been so desperate for other people's affirmation, for their attention and acceptance. She'd wanted other people to think she was pretty so badly, she hadn't even considered whether _she_ thought she was pretty.

She didn't need other people's acceptance. She didn't need boys to holler at her in the street, she didn't need to wear a short skirt just so people would look at her legs. Because Lucy had _always_ loved the way she was, she'd always liked the way she looked, she'd always liked her old clothes.

Natsu had always thought she was pretty, but Lucy hadn't noticed. She'd been so bothered by the opinions of people who didn't matter. She didn't even care about her own opinion.

But now, she did.

She wanted to go play baseball and play basketball and she wanted to swim in the pond. She wanted to go roll around in the mud. She wanted to chase frogs and play with snakes.

Tomboy Lucy had won. But something was different—it wasn't a complete victory. Girly Lucy hadn't totally died and gone away; no, she was there, too.

Tomboy Lucy with Girly Lucy's confidence. A perfect combination.

It would take time, definitely. It would take time for Lucy to get used to _allowing_ her tomboy side to take control. She'd have to get used to the urge to play baseball, the urge to wear sweatpants. But she'd let herself.

Because she was in control. She loved herself just how she was. She noticed, now.

"Let's go to the pond."

Natsu made a face. "What?"

Lucy shot up, grin on her face. "Let's go—the pond."

"Why?"

"Swimming." She pulled herself up from the bed, and then offered her hand out to the boy. "Won't that be fun?"

Natsu frowned at the girl's hand, looking up at her, at the grin on her face.

And her expression, it shook him to his very core. It was the exact same look she'd given him when they were little when they were about to get into trouble. It was the look she'd given him when they tried to sneak frogs into her bedroom and it was the look she'd given him right before they walked out onto the pond that wasn't completely frozen and they'd fallen through the ice. It was _her_.

His heart absolutely shattered, his body completely wracked with joy seeing her like this. This was his Lucy. This was the girl he knew.

She was back, completely.

And just like that, every single ounce of him gave in. He couldn't fight it. He didn't even try.

There was no way he was going to stop loving her. Not when she was here, like this. Not when she was back to being herself.

He grabbed her hand and she tugged him off of the bed, and they ran out to the pond, her in her pajamas and him in just his boxers. And they ran and jumped in, the water cold and shocking their bodies. They laughed and splashed each other and Natsu wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back, hauling him over his shoulder and tombstoning her into the icy waters.

They played in the pond for hours, not caring that school was tomorrow and that it was nearly six in the morning.

He didn't fight it.

He was in love.


	13. Miscommunications

_**A/N:**_ _ **Just a short little chapter, sorry about that. The next chapter will be out REALLY soon, either tonight or tomorrow. I just couldn't really put them together, it wouldn't work out properly, so I have to split them up just for formatting purposes! Sorry again! Please review, please be nice :)**_

Lucy frowned. "An… _auction?_ "

"Yeah," Gray said, nodding. "For charity."

Lucy's face twisted up into an unsure look. "And I'm for _sale?_ "

Gajeel nodded. "Yes."

"I don't want to be for sale."

Laxus shrugged. "You _would've_ gotten a say, if you and dumb-dumb had showed up for first block."

Lucy's eyes flickered over to Natsu, who had his head down on the lunchroom table. His snores were echoing throughout the room, but she didn't have the heart to wake him.

They'd played in the pond the entire night, only returning home when the night sky began to lighten as the sun rose; they'd intended to skip school completely, stay home, but Lucy's father had woken them up rather abruptly, insisting that she didn't miss another block.

So, they'd shown up to class—late, albeit—and Lucy had been struck with the information that she was now a part of the school's latest fundraiser: an auction. The boys had told her at lunch; Natsu had fallen asleep, exhausted from last night's activities.

Girls were put up for sale, and boys—or anyone else who wasn't being sold—could take part in the auction, offering up money. Whoever was the highest bidder would win the person being sold, and they would get to go on a date with them. The dates would occur later that night, in the cafeteria (which would be decked out to look like a romantic restaurant). The school dance would proceed afterwards, where the rest of the school would arrive and enjoy the festivities.

It was the school's Valentine's Day fundraiser. And since Lucy hadn't been at school, she hadn't been able to insist that she didn't want to take part in the entire Valentine's Day shenanigans.

"Isn't that sort of…bad?" Lucy frowned at her lunch. "I mean, really? _Selling_ women? And then the women being sold are forced to go on a date with the highest bidder? I thought the school would at least see the bad PR in that one."

Gray shrugged. "Who knows what the logic was? Either way, you're up for sale on Friday."

"Can't I opt out of it?"

"Probably," Laxus murmured. "But you _are_ aware that you'll raise the most money for the school right?"

"And you know this fundraiser is paying for the baseball team's new uniforms, right?" Gray's eyes darted up to Lucy's face.

For some reason, she got the feelings the uniforms weren't the only reason Gray wanted her in the auction.

"But if I go up for sale, then I have to go on a date with whoever buys me. What if it's a big creep?"

Gray's eyes dropped to his sandwich and his cheeks went a little red. When he spoke, it was barely a murmur; Lucy could only hear a part of his words. "Maybe I'll just have to save up all my cash, then."

Lucy's face went hot at Gray's comment, but she pretended not to hear it. She didn't particularly want to respond to that—she didn't know what to say.

She didn't know how to even talk to him after their date. It had gone nicely, sure. They'd gone out for dinner, chatted all night. And he'd pulled out her chair for her and opened her car door for her and helped her put her coat on, and he'd been incredibly polite and rather charming, but it hadn't been enough.

Natsu was there, lingering in the back of her mind.

Lucy didn't know what to do. Gray seemed to be even more affectionate with her now, even at school; he'd wait by her locker between classes and he'd walked her to the lunchroom. He was being incredibly sweet and really nice. Normally, she'd swoon. He's cute, he's nice, he's focusing totally on her. What's not to like?

But she didn't swoon. She was just…fine. And she wasn't sure why, but she knew it had something to do with the pink haired boy that was snoring in the cafeteria.

The lunch bell rang, and Gajeel and Laxus stuffed the rest of their food into their mouths, giving a wave as they headed off to their next class; Gray lingered back, still sitting at the table, eyes flashing up to Lucy.

"I can walk you to class," He offered, eyes bright.

"Oh," Lucy said, her own gaze dropping down to the boy in front of her. "It's okay. I think I might take Natsu home."

Gray's expression dropped; his face fumbled up into a little frown, he gave sleeping Natsu a little glare. "Okay," He grumbled. "I'll call you tonight."

Lucy met Gray's eyes. What was she supposed to say to that? Clearly, he was just trying to be a gentlemen—you know, not go out on a date and never talk to the girl again. But she had no way of letting him know that it wasn't necessary, that she wasn't super into the idea without completely shutting him down and embarrassing him.

"Sure," Lucy said, giving him a nod. What else was she supposed to do? He was still her friend—she didn't want to embarrass him. She couldn't just tell him no, she couldn't just ruin his day and reject him completely. So, she wimped out. She said sure. She gave him permission to call her.

She was terrible at this kind of thing.

Gray headed off to class, and the rest of the cafeteria emptied out; Lucy sat in the seat until she and Natsu were the only two left in the room. And then she leaned forward, stretching her hand out, and poked his cheek. He continued to snore; she prodded him yet again.

"Mhm," Natsu grumbled, tired and grumpy.

"Wake up, dopey. I'm taking you home."

His eyes stayed closed but she could see his lips twist into a frown. "Don't wanna."

"You can sleep in my comfy soft bed, not the hard cafeteria seats."

The boy hesitated. "Maybe. Carry me."

"I can't carry you." Lucy laughed. "I'm not strong enough."

Natsu grimaced dramatically. "Ouch, Luce. Calling me fat?"

"Right." She snorted, poking him in the ribs. "As if you are fat in any way. C'mon, sleepy. Let's go home."

His lips spread into a little smile, because yeah, maybe he liked the idea that she considered them going _home_. Not to her house or to his house, but home. Together.

She hauled him up and tugged him by the hand out of the door—the contact made both of them blush—and they walked home rather quickly, hoping no teachers would catch them leaving school far before it was over.

Lucy told Natsu about the auction on Friday that she was apparently a part of. He'd laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"I just feel bad. No one's gonna even bet on any other girls—only you."

"Shut up." Lucy rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious!" Natsu raised his hands defensively.

They walked for a moment, and Lucy was quiet. The urge to say something built up inside of her, and it took her a moment to have the courage to spit it out; after a moment, she just said it, knowing that if she thought too hard and got too nervous about her comment, she'd never say it.

"Well," Lucy mumbled, "You better have enough money to win that date with me."

She kept her eyes on her shoes for a second, but clearly caught him glance up at her after he understood what she'd just said; her cheeks filled with heat and she couldn't beat to turn to look at him, to read his expression.

They walked in silence for a couple more minutes before they hit their houses; they jumped Lucy's picket fence and made their way up to her porch, swinging the door open easily. Natsu immediately went to the fridge—his usual stop on his way up to Lucy's bedroom—and Lucy grabbed some pop from the pantry. Then, together, they headed up to her room.

Lucy's head was spinning. Surely, he'd heard her comment—he'd looked at her—but what did he _think?_ Damn, why couldn't she have at least turned her head and seen his expression? But no, now she was here, unsure if he'd even properly understood what she'd meant.

Was he mad? Was he confused? Did he not get it? Did he not understand that she'd just _asked_ him to bet on her in the auction, that she _wanted_ to go on the date with him? Maybe he thought it was just to get out of a date with someone else. That was an understandable conclusion to come to. And it was partially true—Lucy didn't want to go on a date with some random guy—but not all of it.

She wanted to go with Natsu.

But he hadn't said a fucking word since she'd said that, so she jumped to the conclusion that he was ignoring her comment, that it creeped him out and that he didn't want to take her on a date. Because why would he? She was his little brother, after all, wasn't she?

Natsu belly flopped onto her bed and Lucy put on a movie, just as white noise in the background, and laid down beside him. There was something in the air, a tension that usually wasn't there; again, she knew it was from her comment. She regretted every saying anything. Next time she felt like being brave and saying something like that to him, she'd shut her trap.

"You okay?" He asked, his dark eyes washing over her face, searching her expression for something.

Lucy's cheeks went red and she dipped her head. "Yeah, I'm fine." She forced herself to meet his eyes. _Don't be a coward_.

Natsu's head was cocked to the side and he was giving her a funny look; there was something in his gaze she couldn't quite read. His lips were twisted up into a little smirk and he was watching her intently, amused by something she wasn't aware of. His hair was messy and he had big black bags under his eyes and he looked like shit, honestly, but still cute enough to make her heart squeeze in her chest.

"You should sleep." She leaned over and fixed his pillows.

"You're not tired?"

"Nah," She grumbled. "Too stressed about this whole auction thing. I'm supposed to make like a gift for the guy who purchases me, or something, and I don't know what to do. And I don't really want to go stand up on stage in front of everyone. It's embarrassing."

Natsu's eyes softened as he watched her; she looked anxious. She was scratching at her wrist absentmindedly as she thought about the auction. He reached forward, big hands clamping down gently over her wrists, skin hot on hers. "Don't worry about it, Luce." His tone was soft as he tried to ease her. "Everything's gonna be fine."

"What if I have to go on some date with a creepy guy, and—"

"I won't let that happen," Natsu said, voice deep. "If he's creepy…I'll sneak you out."

Lucy's heart kind of dropped, disappointed that he hadn't offered to purchase her himself. Still, she stuck out her pinky. "Pinky promise?"

He wrapped his little finger around hers. "Promise."

Clearly, he didn't want to bet on her. He just offered to save her from a creepy date, like a friend would.

They both settled into the bed. Lucy tried not to look upset, tried to hide her disappointment.

He fell asleep within minutes; she watched him snore, watched the way his chest rose slightly with every breath.

Lucy closed her eyes, letting out a heavy breath. She had to quit this—she had to stop falling for this boy with every glance he gave her. It was like she was eight again, melting inside with every smile that touched his lips.

How long would it be until he broke her heart again? How long until her feelings destroyed her again?

She'd went on a date with Gray. She'd listened to Levy, went out with the guy who gave her the affection she craved. But it wasn't right. It didn't fit. He was perfect and good looking and charming and every single girl's dream, but he wasn't what she was after.

She wanted Natsu, just like she always had.

And she'd never get him. She was the little brother.


	14. Gals

_**A/N:** **Hey guys! I am so sorry this took forever to come out...my internet crashed and it took this long for my provider to send out a guy to fix everything! I promise I wasn't just ignoring you folks :) And in order to make it up to you...TWO chapters will be posted tonight. I promise, I'm working on the next one as I type this! Happy reading! Also, don't try to kill me after this chapter...wait until you read the next chapter before you try to slice my throat :)**_

Lucy had spent the past week rather lonely.

Natsu was a disappearing act. He was at school, for the most part, but spent every spare second he had sleeping. If there was so much as a lull in class, his head would droop and he'd be out. The entire lunch break, while Lucy and the rest of the boys chatted, he would put his head down, pink hair squashed onto the table, and begin to snore. He looked awful—bags under his eyes, skin pale and gray, hair a mess—and clearly, due to the amount he was sleeping, he wasn't feeling so great either.

After school, he'd leave. He didn't accompany Lucy on her walk home anymore. He'd wave at her in the halls as he jogged out of the school, dashing down the street in the opposite direction of his house, running out of sight. It seemed like he had somewhere important to go, somewhere he desperately needed to be.

And it didn't include Lucy. She tried not to look upset.

Lucy waited up for him one night, waited for him to come home so she could at least speak to him because yeah, okay, maybe she was starting to miss him a little bit. He'd come home fairly late, around midnight, and immediately flopped onto his bed. Lucy had grabbed her can, about to whisper over to him, but he'd already been snoring. She let him sleep, wondering what was making him stay out so late.

Gray picked up on Natsu's absence; he asked to walk Lucy home a couple times. Lucy always said no—politely, of course—coming up with some excuse about making her dad dinner or having a skype date with her girlfriends from the prep school.

She was sort of perplexed by her own behaviour—wasn't she _supposed_ to go with Gray, go on dates with him and let him walk her home? Isn't that what she'd decided on? Wasn't she supposed to follow Levy's advice?

Lucy already knew the answer. Gray just wasn't right, he wasn't what her heart yearned for. And what _did_ her heart yearn for?

The boy she'd been in love with since she was five years old. The boy that grinned at her from his bedroom window. The boy that brought her chocolate when she was on her period and the boy that hugged her tight when she cried and the boy that had absolutely, completely, irreversibly torn her heart into shreds.

But she certainly wasn't going to admit that, not to herself, not yet. She didn't want to. Because the second that she acknowledged her feelings, the moment she realized that those feelings were real and there and existing…he'd break her heart again.

She was just the girl next door, nothing more. She was his little brother. She refused to let herself be torn up anymore than she already had.

So, she tried to forget. Of course, being home alone every day, not having him there to make things fun…well, that just made her yearn for his presence more. Which made her think about him a lot. Which made it really hard to stop thinking about how cute he was, or how adorable his nose was.

Lucy flopped down on her bed, forcing her mind to focus on a different topic that was irking her: the auction.

She'd tried to get out of it. She'd marched herself down to the principals' office, about to head into a big spiel about how this entire charity thing was sort of humiliating and a real downer on human rights, considering this was the 21st century and people shouldn't be sold. She was going to hammer into him, telling him that selling women _exclusively_ was also terrible, that it was a horrible thing for a school to condone. She was going to tell him that selling women to men for a _date_ was perpetuating rape culture, that it was forcing girls to go on a date with whomever purchased them, without consent.

She'd figured it was harsh, but it was enough reason to lead into her excusing herself from the charity auction because she didn't agree with it.

But the second she'd walked in, the principal had lit up, a big grin on his face. He said he'd been wanting to see her so he could thank her for taking part in the charity auction. He said he'd heard the latest rumblings in the school grapevine (ugh, old people slang) and heard that the boys were pretty excited she was going to be participating. The principal continued, saying she was rumored to be the most expensive date, that she'd bring in the biggest amount of cash for the school. And then, he went on to say that the money was going to help the art curriculum, the band class, the basketball team.

And Lucy just gave him a smile, said she was glad to help the school, and ducked out of his office. She'd lost all of the fire in her chest, all of the anger about how weird and sort of awful the entire auction idea was. She was too nice to pull out of the event once he'd said how she personally was practically the highlight of the entire thing.

So, she was stuck. Tomorrow at approximately two o'clock, she would be up for sale. She would be on stage, in front of every single person in the school, letting people _bet_ on her. People would be offering money to go on a date with _her_.

It was embarrassing and humiliating and yeah, okay, a little flattering that people wanted to even blow money on a single little dinner with her. But she wasn't excited, not really. She didn't want to go on a date with just anyone—there was only one person she sort of had in mind. But that was stupid and she wasn't supposed to think about that anymore, so she shoved the thought to the back of her mind and focused on the auction.

The girls who were up for sale were supposed to bring a gift for the bidder that eventually purchased the date with them. Lucy had chatted a couple of the other girls; they were bringing the latest video game, a nerf gun, stuff like that. Lucy hadn't really known what to bring, so she decided to do something homemade: snacks.

She spent the afternoon baking cookies and muffins and brownies and then wrapping them up and placing them in a little picnic basket, all drawn up with a bow. She hoped it was nice enough to give to someone as a gift, and put it in the kitchen, all ready for tomorrow.

Lucy had originally intended to settle into bed with some icecream and watch a movie—she was a little bummed and rather lonely, and this was sure to make her feel a little better—but she was brutally interrupted as soon as she'd tucked herself into her bed.

"Lucy!" Her father called, a strange tone in his voice. "You've got guests!"

Lucy had frowned. "Is it Natsu?" She tried not to sound excited, but she already knew the answer—of course it wasn't Natsu. He wouldn't knock at the front door—he'd just come right up.

"No. You better come down here."

Lucy sighed, tossing the blankets off of her. She quickly hopped down the stairs, but was surprised to see a group of people down by the front door. Lucy's lips spread into a wide grin and her eyes were bright. "What are you guys doing here?"

Levy, Erza, Juvia and Cana were at the base of her steps, grinning up at her.

"You're dad told us about the auction," Levy said, smiling. "We _had_ to come help you get ready. It's only right."

Lucy rolled her eyes, jumping down the stairs and throwing herself at her friends; they all hugged tightly. Lucy's father looked proud, glad to see Lucy with some female friends.

She'd showed them her house and they'd made their way up to her room; the girls choked back their laughter when they looked at her closet, commenting on how small it was. Of course, these girls were used to much higher standards of living—they permanently attended the rather expensive prep school and had pretty rich parents, which resulted in them having massive walk-in closets. Lucy said she liked her closet, that it fit everything she needed.

Levy shook her head at Lucy, smiling. "You look just like you did when you first came to the prep school—look at those sweatpants."

Lucy had frowned defensively. "They're comfy."

Juvia had poked her in the side, teasing her as she changed the subject. "You've got to show us who this Gray guy is."

Lucy turned, giving Levy a look. "You told them?"

"What, you go on a date and expect me not to tell the girls?" Levy laughed. "We've got to see him, see if he's as cute as you say."

"Whose this?" Cana asked. Her finger was up, pointing to a photo.

She was at the far back wall of Lucy's bedroom; the entire wall behind her computer desk was absolutely covered in old photos. Polaroids, old pictures from her as a kid, picture she'd taken on her old instant camera when she was young. Nothing had been touched since Lucy had left, and although she'd cleaned up her old stuff and gotten rid of a few things, she hadn't dared throw out any pictures. Sure, they were proof of her definitive awkward phase, but she loved the memories too much.

Lucy cocked her head to the side. "That's Natsu."

"Ah—lemme see!" Levy dove to Cana's side, eyes narrowing up at the picture.

The photo was old, warped and altered in color as time had impacted it. It was Lucy and Natsu out at the baseball diamond, bats and gloves in hand; they both had baseball caps on, turned backwards; the two children were looking up at the camera but Lucy's hand was reaching out and squeezing Natsu's cheeks. Natsu was pouting over at her.

"You were a cute kid," Juvia commented.

"Shut up," Lucy snorted. "I know you guys are horrified. I was a real tomboy."

Cana didn't take her eyes off of the photo. "You and this boy seemed close."

"Yeah," Lucy said, leaning back against her bedframe. Without hesitation, her eyes flickered over to her window, searching for him; his room was empty, like usual. No pink hair in sight. "He's my best friend."

"And you love him," Levy added.

Lucy made a face. "Do not!"

The blue haired girl rolled her eyes. "Sure, Lucy."

Lucy's cheeks flushed red and she stood up, desperate to change the topic before she had to admit the truth to herself. "Are you guys gonna help me pick an outfit for the auction or not?" Lucy stepped towards her closet.

And so, they helped. The girls dug through Lucy's closet—baffled by the amount of sweatpants she owned—and made her try on every single decent dress she owned. Half of them were designer—things she'd picked up while attending the prep school—but didn't seem to quite fit the part of _girl being sold for charity_.

Levy insisted they go shopping; the girls agreed. They wanted Lucy to look spectacular so she'd rake in a lot of money for the school. Lucy sighed, allowing them to drag her out of the house, although she refused to change out of her sweatpants for the shopping session.

The girls walked to main street, where all of the little boutique shops were—about a ten minute walk from Lucy's house—and went into a cute little dress shop. They made Lucy try on dress after dress, in a range of styles; Levy wanted her to wear something sexy, while Juvia wanted Lucy to wear something cute and sweet.

Lucy wasn't really interested in what she wore—she was far too anxious for the entire thing to be over with to give a single shit about her outfit—and let the girls argue and debate over the dress without giving any input. Honestly, the entire shopping experience was exhausting, and Lucy wished they'd picked a dress faster.

Finally, they settled on a dress—a cute little floral number that was somehow both sexy and sweet at the same time—and the girls left the store, hungry. Lucy, who was absolutely starving, mentioned that there was a little Italian restaurant up the street; the girls excitedly made their way there.

They'd just sat down and ordered their food when everything fell apart.

The girls had been chatting about the auction, how they were going to come and watch Lucy blow everyone's mind with her beauty, and then they'd also attend the dance later that night. The theme was _A Night In The Clouds_ and the gym was decorated to look like they were up in the sky, with stars on the roof and large white puffs around them to look like clouds; the girls chattered about what they would wear, hoping someone would ask them to dance.

The bell on the door rang as someone entered the restaurant, and Lucy's eyes snapped up, out of habit; what she saw made her heart stop in her chest, made her throat tighten, made her stomach fill with heaviness.

Natsu, Lisanna, and Lisanna's parents. They walked in and were seated by a waitress; they were all chatting, all smiles, all laughter. Natsu looked happy; Lisanna looked happier.

And Lucy's heart stopped.

She'd been here before. This had happened already. This wasn't supposed to happen again.

Wasn't this just like last time? Different setting, sure, but the exact same? Natsu and Lucy are close. Best friends. Spend every second together. Then, suddenly, Natsu bails. He didn't go to the dance with Lucy before, and now he'd failed to see her every night for a week when they were usually inseperable. And then…Natsu is with Lisanna.

Sure, it wasn't as dramatic here in an Italian restaurant, but it stung just as badly as seeing him at the dance with her.

He'd ignored her all week and had been out with Lisanna and now he was out to dinner with Lisanna and her fucking parents, and they were chatting and comfortable with each other and got along so well and just seeing it made Lucy feel sick.

She was absolutely raging with jealousy. Because _she_ wanted him. She wanted to be going out to dinner with Natsu and _she_ wanted to be the one who got to eat dinner with him and _she_ wanted to be the one who he spent his evenings with. She wanted to be the one who ate dinner with the parents.

But clearly, he'd been out with Lisanna all week. And now he was having supper with her parents. And they all looked so happy.

And Lucy was heartbroken. Maybe not so bad as last time—after all, she'd been protecting herself from this by not truly recognizing her feelings, but it hurt so bad seeing him with her and _them_ that it was now painfully clear how much she felt for the boy—but it was still pretty fucking bad. Tears stung at her eyes and she dropped her eyes to her napkin and hoped no one would notice.

And they didn't. The girls were too busy chatting about the dance and their excitement to notice. Lucy was thankful that they were so invested in the topic—she didn't want anyone to know how much excruciating pain she was in right now.

Natsu and Lisanna and her parents chatted away, not seeing Lucy and the girls across the room. Lucy didn't look over at them. She didn't think she could handle the sight.

Their food came, and Lucy wasn't hungry anymore. She poked at her ravioli, and then pushed it aside. The girls asked if she was okay, and she said she wasn't feeling well—just nervous for the auction. They believed her, comforted her.

She tried not to burst into tears.

The girls stood up after they paid for their food, and Lucy's heart ached with disappointment.

Why had she thought anything different would happen? Why had she expected otherwise? She should've known—she was just the little brother. She should've known he'd date other girls, that he'd meet other girls' parents and have dinner with them like a little family. Why had she gotten her hopes up about something so…hopeless?

They headed for the door, and she had to walk right by their table in order to do so. She closed her eyes and prayed he never saw her, prayed he didn't see the look in her eyes.

But he saw her.

"Luce?"

Lucy's heart stopped for a second and she glanced back as she strode by, giving a little wave and then practically jogging out of the restaurant. He'd looked confused and his eyes had been so intense on hers, and she wanted to cry.

She walked home with the girls, hands balled up into fists, cursing herself for ever allowing herself to feel such things for that boy twice.


	15. Love is Labour and I'm Very Sore

_**A?N:**_ _ **just a little quick one but I couldn't really combine this with the auction without it being a majorly long chapter. I won't take super long putting out the next chapter, I promise!**_

It was the day of the auction.

Lucy woke up early so that the girls could prep her for her day of festivities, dates and dancing. They'd thrown her into the shower bright and early, tugging her out of the steaming water once she began to fall asleep; they wrapped her in a towel and plunked her down in a chair. Juvia worked and putting her hair in big curlers, blow-drying the curls to hold them in place throughout the long day; Cana began to work on Lucy's nails, filing and digging out the dirt from underneath them, to her dismay. Levy and Erza worked on Lucy's makeup, coating her face in foundation, contouring and blushing her cheeks, powdering her to perfection. They gave her a perfect classic eyeliner and a cute nude-pink lip, doing her up until she looked like perfection. She tugged on her floral dress and they all gasped in awe, showering her with compliments. Then, they went off, headed back to their hotel room to get themselves all done up for the day as well.

Lucy stared at herself nervously in her mirror, glancing at her reflection uneasily. She felt a little weird, being all done up like this. A couple months ago, this had been her normal, but lately…she'd been far happier in her sweats and hoodies, hair in a ponytail or bun, no makeup. Now, like this, she looked like a stranger.

Lucy sighed, turning to look at her closet. Her eyes landed on something that had fallen to the floor; she reached down and grabbed it, intending to hang it back up. But the fabric was familiar in her hands and she frowned down at it, unsure of what it was.

She held it up, and the dress shook out, revealing itself. It was the ugly brown dress she'd worn to the dance in grade eight. It had long, lacy sleeves like a grandma would wear; the skirt had fallen in an awkward place between her knees and her feet, and the neckline crawled up far too high to be attractive in a modern age.

But, still. It screamed out to her, screamed out about the memories, the ones that were achingly similar to what she felt right now. And she knew she girls would kill her once they saw her, but she couldn't help it.

She tugged the form-fitting floral dress off and put the ugly brown dress on.

And it was like she was back in grade eight, hopelessly in love with her best friend who had the hots for someone else. And her heart ached because she was so sorry for doing this to herself yet again. She was sorry she was so weak and she was sorry she didn't protect herself better and she wished she could go back in time and never love Natsu because loving him was just pain and heartbreak.

But he was her best friend and was clearly involved with someone else and she loved him so much that she couldn't even be upset because he'd looked so happy.

The dress fit her differently, now. She'd grown—her body had changed. She had hips, now. Boobs. She was quite a bit curvier than before, and the dress clearly demonstrated that. It didn't look half bad, actually. Still a little vintage, still a little grandma-ish, but okay.

Lucy reached up and ripped at the neckline, pulling off the lace that was choking her. It ripped down along the seam on her chest, revealing a little bit of cleavage. She smiled at herself in the mirror, pleased with the results.

The dress fit nicely, and didn't look as old and ugly. In fact, she quite liked it. A mixture of the old and the new, combining to make something…nice. Lucy didn't mind this sort of combination. She felt like herself, like she belonged in this dress.

So, she headed off, nervous about the entire day before her.

Meanwhile, across the gap, a certain pink haired boy was just as nervous. It was just about time for him to head off to school, and he was sitting on his bed, looking down into his lap, looking over everything, hoping he had all he needed.

His fingers reached down and fiddled with the wads of cash in his lap, counting them over and over again. His fingertips were calloused and cracked and bloody and his eyes fucking stung because he was so goddamn exhausted but he didn't care, because this was the day.

He'd worked every day after school that entire week, desperate to save up enough cash to have a decent bet for Lucy. Not that he thought betting on her for a date was a decent thing to do—he felt a little scummy having to buy time with her, like she was an object—but he couldn't stand the idea of her going on a date with a single other person. He'd already watched her go out on a date with Gray, and that had nearly killed him. To think someone else might win her date, to think that maybe even Gray would take her out again….well, that didn't sit well with Natsu.

So, he'd figured the only thing he could do was bet on her. At the start of this week, he'd had approximately thirteen dollars in his wallet—not exactly prime betting material. He wouldn't win the date with Lucy with thirteen dollars.

So, he'd asked Lisanna if her parents would hire him after school. They had the biggest house in town and had a major plot of land that was filled with landscaping—orchards, berries, flowers, veggies, everything. He'd begged the girl to ask her parents to hire him. She'd asked why, and he'd told her the truth: he was in love with Lucy and had to win the date with her at the auction. Lisanna had laughed and said it was no problem, that her parents would be more than willing.

Thirteen bucks an hour, and Natsu could work as long as he wanted after school. So, he did. He worked from three till eleven every night that week. He'd broken his back digging up dirt and planting flowers and trimming their shrubs to perfection. He'd moved rocks and he'd cut trees and he'd watered their entire orchard, which took nine fucking years practically. And he'd come every night and he'd fall asleep right there, in his grubby, dirty clothes, but he didn't mind because he _had_ to save up enough.

Thirteen bucks an hour, eight hours a day after school, five days in a row. Five hundred and twenty dollars. Add on his initial thirteen dollars, and he officially had five hundred and thirty three dollars.

He prayed that it was enough.

Lisanna and her parents had taken him out for dinner the night before as a treat, since he'd worked so hard and made their yard look so impressive. He'd accepted—what, was he supposed to say no to his boss?

But he'd seen Lucy and she'd left all of a sudden and she looked upset, and he swore he was going to come home and make sure she was okay but he had to clean up the Strauss' garden because he had to save up enough to bet on Lucy. By the time he'd come home, she'd already be fast asleep, preparing for the auction.

But now he was sitting on his bed making sure he had all of his money, making sure he had every single penny because he couldn't leave anything behind.

There a movement in his window and his eyes snapped up and Lucy was there. His heart melted on the spot and he watched her as she spun, looking at herself in the mirror. She was all done up, but was wearing an older dress—he recognized it now; it was in fact the one dress she owned a couple years ago. She straightened out the brown dress and wiped her lips, taking off a bit of the lipstick and then nodded at herself in her mirror, okay with what she saw, and then turned and left her room, never noticing Natsu's presence.

He didn't realize his jaw had dropped until he'd forgotten to swallow and drool spilled down his chin.

She was so pretty, and his heart ached. He clutched the money in his hand and grabbed his bag, dashing out the door, desperate to get the day going.

Both of them had sweaty palms, searching in the crowds for each other, as the school's festivities began. There were no classes—there was a bake sale and fair in the gymnasium and activities in every single classroom run by the faculty. Lucy was taken away by the principal, who rounded up all of the girls who were up for sale at the auction; they were hauled backstage and were told their cues, where to stand when they were put on stage, on display for all potential buyers.

Natsu spent the entire day going from activity to activity, looking for her, grumbling as he was forced to paint or draw or do stupid activities in each room. All he wanted to do was find her, be beside her. He'd missed her so much and he was so sore and tired and she was the only thing that would make it better.

But he didn't find her and the day progressed and the auction was starting soon. Everyone was ushered to the gym and it was packed and sweaty in there, but Natsu didn't care. He shoved his way to the front of the gym, hands clamped around the money in his hand.

The lights turned off and kids gasped; the spotlight hit the stage.

It was starting. Natsu clung to his money, heart hammering and stomach flopping nervously.

He had to win.


	16. Sold

The principal began the auction fairly quickly. They started out with the younger girls, working up throughout the grades so that the oldest girls—the girls most likely to have the most money bid on them—would go last.

All of the kids in the audience were chatting away as the auction went on, whispering about whatever girl was up there, being pawned off to some fellows in the crowd. At this point, the younger girls weren't going for much—bets started at twenty bucks, and the highest a younger girl was sold for was about fifty. It made sense, though—the younger kids didn't have jobs, so they didn't have much money to bid.

Still, the girls on stage beamed with flattery when a boy—or even a girl—bet on them. One younger girl, Wendy, sold for a whopping sixty five dollars to her best friend, Sherria. The girls ran to each other and hugged, giggling.

"That's bound to be the cutest dinner date of all time!" The principal had cooed afterwards, once the girls had left the stage.

As the girls being sold got older, the bets began to rise; several girls were now hitting the hundred dollar mark for their final bids. The boys in the crowd were getting louder, excitedly waving their hands in the air to signal a bid; the principal was having a ball, throwing funny comments and jokes out about the desperate boys.

Everyone was having a great time—except Natsu.

He was way too fucking nervous. His head was spinning and he felt so fucking dizzy and he didn't know what to do. The second Lucy walked out there, he knew he'd freeze. Because she was so pretty and he was so stupid. Would she even _want_ him to bid? Would she even want to go out to dinner with him?

The second he put his hand up and bid on her, she'd know. It would be a tell-all. It would give away everything. He'd basically be telling her that he loved her, that he wanted her, that he didn't want her to be on a date with anyone else. And maybe it would ruin everything, maybe she didn't think of him in that way and their intimate friendship would come to a harsh end. Or maybe it would be perfect. Maybe they'd have dinner and hit it off and he'd kiss her on the dancefloor at the dance.

Either way, he was too far gone, now. He couldn't keep hiding his feelings, couldn't keep being afraid of what he felt. It was time to tell her, regardless of the outcome. He couldn't live with himself if he never tried.

So he clutched his money, held it tight to his sweaty palms, and watched the stage anxiously.

Dozens of girls got sold—some to people they were clearly excited to go on a date with, others not so much—and Natsu watched in anticipation, the urge to vomit increasing with every female that left the stage.

Until, all of a sudden, the principal had a great big grin on his face and he was announcing _her_ name.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our next beautiful lady up for bidding is the whole package. Blonde, beautiful, and not to mention one of the smartest kids in the school. Everyone, please welcome Lucy Heartfilia to the stage!"

The crowd absolutely erupted. Everyone knew who she was—all the boys wanted her, all the girls wanted to be her. The second she hit the stage, the hoots and hollers from the crowd only grew louder, which was hard to believe. People were chanting her name and girls were shouting out compliments at her and the boys were screaming out, telling her that they were gonna win the date with her.

Lucy blushed as she made her way over to the principal, eyes dropping to the stage. She had a nervous smile on her face—clearly, she felt uncomfortable with this much attention on her—and her cheeks were a bright pink. When she finally made it to her mark on stage, she turned, facing the audience; the hollers increased even more.

Lucy's eyes flickered over the crowds, searching for one particular person.

"Alright—this is a big one—so let's start the bidding at…eighty dollars!"

Lucy's eyes widened and she turned to look at the principal, a little confused. Eighty dollars? That was nearly the equivalent of the highest bid throughout the entire auction, and that was her _starting_ price?

No one was ever going to bid on her, not when she was priced that high. She'd be forced to stand here awkwardly while no one bet on her. She'd go red in the cheeks, feel her stomach fill with heaviness, feel the shame and humiliation she'd been fearing this whole time.

Lucy's eyes dropped and she cringed, awaiting the horrible silence that would confirm her fears.

But…the silence never came. In fact, the room lit up with shouts and waves, and the principal was busy calling out boys who put their hands up, increasing the bidding price.

"Eighty! We've got eighty over there with Matthew! Anyone want to go eighty-five? Thomas in the back with eighty five! Ninety? James! Ninety five? Dawson!"

The numbers kept flying up as boys bid; Lucy's eyes flashed up to the crowd, surprised to see at least thirty people with their hands up as the principal continued to raise the price.

Over in the far corner, Lucy could see her girls: Cana, Erza, Juvia and Levy. They waved their hands when the principal made it up to 150 dollars, but someone outbid them; they sighed in defeat, only having enough chump change in their pockets to pool that much money together. They didn't mind though—they were having a blast seeing their hot best friend get bit on by a bevy of good looking teens.

Lucy's eyes raked the audience, her heart pounding fast. The numbers kept flying upward—she'd just hit 230 dollars—and she tried to blur out the noise, focusing on the task before her. She had to find him. He had to have come, right? He would've miss this, would he?

But she scanned the crowd and she didn't see a head of pink hair anywhere. It was hard—the crowd was so alive, moving and shouting out bids—but she was pretty sure Natsu was absent from the festivities.

Her heart dropped, and she tried to push the thought of him out of her mind. She shouldn't be upset, not today—she should be happy, flattered that this many people wanted to spend this much money on a date with her.

"Four hundred!" A voice called to the right of the stage, and everyone's head turned snapping over to look at where the voice originated from.

Lucy frowned, peering down into the crowd; once her eyes landed on the person who'd shouted out the bid, her eyebrows lifted up in surprise.

The principal seemed shocked by such a large bid. "A bid of four hundred dollars…by Gray Fullbuster! What a contribution! Anyone feel like competing?"

Another kid raised his hand, someone Lucy didn't know. "Four fifty!"

The principal was absolutely giddy. "Four hundred and fifty to Loke!"

Gray fought back. "Four hundred and eighty!"

Loke frowned. "Four hundred and ninety!"

"This is truly incredible!" The principal said excitedly. "What a heated bidding battle!"

Another voice called out from the left of the stage; it's presence was so surprising that it silenced the entire bidding battle, as well as all of the chatter and whispers from the rest of the crowd. The gym, filled with hundreds of students and faculty members, fell silent, all clamoring for a glance at whomever had spoken the words.

"Five hundred and thirty three."

Lucy made a face, head snapping to search for the face who'd spoken those words. It didn't take long to find the individual who had just made the giant bet—everyone around him had taken a step back, left a wide gap around him.

He had his arm up, extended into the air, wad of cash in his hand; his expression was twisted up into an embarrassed grimace, eyes not meeting anyone's. He was cringing at the ground, cheeks red as could be and face hot.

Lucy's breath stopped, her heart skipping a beat.

It was Natsu. Natsu had just bet that massive amount of money on her.

The silence was deafening; it echoed throughout the gym as everyone stared, not saying a word.

A couple long seconds later, the principal broke through the thick silence. "W-Well, everyone…we've got a record breaking bid by Mr. Natsu Dragneel, who has so valiantly offered up five hundred and thirty three dollars in order to win the date with the lovely Lucy." There was a pause; the crowd was still dead silent. "Does anyone want to counter this bid?"

A hand shot up. "Five hundred and forty!"

Lucy's head snapped back, eyes landing back on Gray, who had his money now hoisted into the air.

Natsu's eyes flashed up, confusion and horror clear in his expression. Gray had just outbid him. He didn't have any more money to bid, he couldn't do it. He'd lost.

Everything was blurry and everything was wrong and his stomach was flipping and flopping and his entire body ached. The entire week's worth of hard labour seemed to hit him, and he felt battered and bruised.

It was like a bomb had gone off. He couldn't hear anything over the screaming silence in his ear, like he'd lost his sense of hearing or been hit in the head or something. He could see the principal waving his hands around, counting down, seeing if anyone else would bid. After a couple seconds, when there were no more bids, the principal clapped and congratulated Gray on winning the date.

Natsu's eyes were wet and his heart felt like it had collapsed and he couldn't really breathe. His eyes flickered up to the girl on stage; she was already staring at him, a strange expression on her face. And his cheeks went red and his eyes filled up with tears and he ducked his head, turning and pushing away from the stage, through the crowd. He stumbled through the audience, shoving his way through, until he made it to the doorway, and then he made his way out.

He felt numb, broken, dead.

He'd lost.

For Lucy, everything happened very quickly. Before she knew it, she was whisked off stage and being told where to go; the principal congratulated her on being such a successful sale and teachers patted her excitedly, directing her towards a room where all the girls had stored their presents for their dates. They all grabbed their gifts and were ushered off towards the cafeteria, where their dates were awaiting them.

Kids were ushered out of the gym—the faculty needed to set the place up and decorate for the dance, which started in roughly two hours.

Lucy was herded to the cafeteria. To her surprise, the entire place was decked out like a fancy Italian restaurant; dimmed lights and rose centerpieces and white tablecloths. A few faculty members were dressed like waiters and waitresses, and one of them took Lucy to a table, where Gray was already seated.

The waiter left and Lucy blinked down at Gray, because everything had happened so fast and she wasn't exactly sure what had just occurred and she felt a little stunted, like she'd been surprised and couldn't react fast enough.

Gray peered up at her, confused by her blank expression. "Oh!" He said, shooting out of his seat. He made his way around the table and pulled out her chair for her. "Have a seat."

"Um," Lucy mumbled, stumbling over her words. "Thanks." She plopped herself down and Gray pushed her in to a comfortable place and he went and sat down across from her. He smiled at her and she tried to smile back, honestly, she did, but she was just so fucking lost and dazed by whatever had just happened in the gym that she didn't really know how to make her muscles move.

Gray gave her a timid smile. "You okay, Lucy?"

Well, no, not really. She wanted to lean over and ask him what the hell had just happened. She wanted to ask if Natsu had, in fact, just bid on her for a ridiculous amount of money. She wanted Gray to confirm that yes, that had really happened and that no, she hadn't just dreamed it up. She wanted to ask Gray what that meant. She wanted to ask Gray if that meant Natsu liked her, if him bidding on her meant something more than just his usual friendship.

She was so confused and so lost and so preoccupied that she couldn't focus on this date, on this lovely dinner with Gray. She was too busy, too consumed with confused thoughts about the pink haired boy who had ran out of the gym.

She'd seen Natsu's face when he left. Sad. Mad. Broken. And was it just her, or had he started to tear up a little? Was losing the bid really something that would make Natsu…cry?

Or was all of this in her imagination? Had it even happened? Maybe she'd just conjured it up, her emotions getting the best of her.

Lucy blinked, responding far too late. "I'm…fine."

"Okay…" Gray said, trailing off a little bit. He reached down and flipped open the menu, looking at the pictures and descriptions of the meals available. It all looked delicious. "What do you think you're gonna get to eat?"

Lucy frowned, realizing that she had a menu at her fingertips, too; she flipped it open and scanned the page, but the words were nonsense and she was jittery and she couldn't help but wonder where the hell Natsu was. "I, uh…" She paused for a second. "Okay—listen, Natsu betted on me, right?"

Gray met her eyes. "Um, yes?"

Lucy nodded. So she _hadn't_ just thought it up. "Well, what do you think that means?"

Gray made a face. "It means…he bet on you."

Lucy sighed. "I know—but like…feelings wise?"

"I don't know," Gray mumbled, clearly not impressed with Lucy's topic of choice. "Probably just didn't want you to go on a date with me."

"Oh," Lucy responded, leaning back in her seat, realizing that she was leaning over the table. Then, her face twisted into a frown and she leaned forward again, unable to help her questioning. "Well, why would he be so bothered by that? Does that mean he likes me, or something?"

Gray sighed. "I don't know, Lucy."

She didn't seem aware of the fact that talking about a boy whilst on a date with a completely different boy (who also paid approximately five hundred and twenty dollars for said date) was rather rude. She flew into further conversation, breaking down every single instant she recalled from the gym, everything of importance. She asked Gray what he thought, asked if it meant anything.

"He _bet_ on me. I mean, that's something, right? And not just twenty bucks or something…he bet a lot. A stupid amount. And did you see his face when you outbid him? Of course you didn't, you were down in the crowd…he was so messed up. He looked so sad. I think he started to _cry_ Gray. Does that mean something? I mean he doesn't cry often and when he does its always something really important to him and he started crying when he didn't win the bet with me so I mean, is that something? I think it's something. Do you think it's something?"

Gray had his head down on the table by this point. "I don't know."

Lucy fell silent, frowning down at the table. "I hope it's something."

Gray looked up. "So, you like the guy?"

Lucy's cheeks went red. "W-What? No, I—"

"Lucy," Gray snarled, rolling his eyes. "You don't have to lie. We've been on this date for half an hour and you've only talked about him. I can take a hint."

Lucy's brown eyes flickered up to the black haired boy, and for the first time since the dinner began, she realized how much of an asshole she'd been. "I…I'm sorry, Gray."

His dark eyes were on her, and he gave a nod. Something in his expression made it clear that he understood her apology. It wasn't just an apology for being a shitty date—no, it was more. It was an apology for not telling him the truth sooner. It was an apology for wasting his time, wasting his money, wasting his feelings.

"Don't worry about it," He mumbled back, a little disappointed. "I kind of had a feeling, anyways."

Lucy frowned. "A feeling?"

"Yeah, about you and Natsu."

She made a face. "Why's that?"

The boy had a little smirk on his face. "I told him I wanted to ask you out and he flipped. I've never seen him so angry before." He paused. "I can't even imagine how angry he is right now."

Lucy's cheeks went red at the idea of Natsu being jealous.

Gray sighed. "To be fair, though, he never told me. If he'd just said he liked you, I would've backed off…" He trailed off for a second. "I asked, and he said no."

"So why'd you outbid him if you figured it out?"

Gray shrugged. "Guess I was just mad. He's my friend, I thought he'd at least tell me if he liked you. But he lied and said no, then he goes and bets on you?" Gray's eyes dropped. "Guess I was just a little ticked he wouldn't tell me the truth."

"I'm really sorry," Lucy murmured. "I should've told you the truth, too."

"S'okay," Gray replied. "I kinda figured you guys had a thing for each other—just didn't let myself accept it."

Lucy's eyes softened and she leaned forward, placing her hand on his. It wasn't anything romantic—strictly a friend apologizing and consoling another friend. "It was wrong of me to do that to you, Gray. I shouldn't have wasted your time."

Gray gave her a little smile. "Guess you owe me."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "How exactly do I repay you?"

"I saw all your girlfriends you were hanging out with. They're cute."

Lucy laughed. "I'll be sure to introduce you to them. It's only fair."

The food they'd ordered earlier arrived, and the two pals began to chow down; now that everything was out in the open, they had a good time, chatting and discussing what had went down in the gym. Gray, now more excited about the prospect of meeting Lucy's cute friends, gave his full input on what he believed was going through Natsu's mind; he dissected the situation and agreed with Lucy that _yes_ , he believed Natsu betting on her meant something.

The date ended up not being a total waste. The food was good and the company was great and they chatted for quite a while; topics changed and the two joked around, laughing and smiling. Lucy told him about her friends, going into detail about each girl and what they were all like. Gray seemed the most interested in Juvia—Lucy and ensured that out of all of her friends, Juvia was the most down to earth, and that seemed to appeal to the boy.

Lucy promised she'd introduce the two as a way to make it up to him for everything he'd been through. Gray agreed that it was a fair trade.

But what the two teens didn't know was that their little dinner date was going to be rudely interrupted in a matter of moments.

See, Natsu had been out and about, thinking hard. He'd ran away from the gym, and yeah, maybe a tear or two or three or four had slipped out. He'd ran away, as fast he could, leaving all of the pain and the horror behind him. He'd gone to the only place that ever really made sense to him—the only place he'd felt like he truly belonged throughout his entire life.

He'd gone to the baseball diamond. He went and laid out in the field, stared up at the clouds, thought about everything that had just happened. He thought about Gray, the auction, Lucy…

She'd looked so beautiful in her dress. She'd smiled up on that stage and he'd nearly melted in place. She was sunshine and she was happiness and she was rainbows and she was everything, and he was just a crack in the fucking sidewalk. He never should've thought he had a chance with her, not when there were guys like Gray trying to get with her, too.

He'd never have enough charm and he'd never have enough guts and he'd never have enough money, not compared to all of the other guys.

His heart ached and he felt like throwing up, because he loved her so damn much and she was out there, eating a romantic dinner with someone else and he was here, laying in the grass, having ants crawl all over him.

But then he remembered that stupid dance in middle school, and how he'd gone with someone else and he'd kissed some other girl that didn't even matter anymore and Lucy had seen it. And he remembered how she'd ran away from the dance and she'd decided right then and there that she was leaving.

It was oddly familiar. Natsu had gone to the dance with someone else, Lucy was on a date with someone else. Lucy had ran away crying, Natsu had ran away (and no, he wasn't crying, his eyes were just…wet). But now, this lead him to thoughts of the future, of what came next.

Lucy had decided to change, and left him behind. What would Natsu do?

He could leave, broken hearted. He could leave her behind and try to forget and renew himself, sort of like Lucy had. He could become a sophisticated guy, start to wear sweater vests and drink coffee and wear glasses. He could leave his little hooligan phase behind him, try to be better.

But the idea of leaving Lucy, of never seeing here again—or even the idea of not seeing her the next day—was something he couldn't get over. He couldn't. The idea of it made his chest ache and his stomach hurt and he felt sore, like someone had beat him up.

He loved her too much to leave. He loved her too much to run away just because he was hurting.

Natsu was sick of being afraid, sick of second guessing and hesitation. He;d hesitated when Lucy came back and he'd hesitated when he'd first realized he liked her and he was hesitating right now, knowing that he loved her and she was out there.

So, he wasn't gonna fucking hesitate anymore. He couldn't. He was so done wasting his time.

So he picked himself up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and he started to run. He ran back to the school. He took shortcuts, hopping over people's fences and cutting through their lawns. He was chased by rottweilers as he dashed through people's backyards (one dog bit him in the ass and ripped his pants) and he splashed through people's pools and he even cut across the fucking swamp just so he could avoid traffic and be at the school one minute faster.

And he got there and he didn't care how much he stunk or how stupid he looked with mud on his face. He ran to the cafeteria and he slammed through the doors, and he didn't care that everyone turned and gawked at him like he was a monster.

His eyes flashed through the entire space, looking for her. And when he saw her, way at the back, too caught up in her conversation with Gray to notice his wild entrance, he froze.

Lucy was smiling, laughing so hard that her head was tipped back a little; her nose wrinkled as she grinned, snorting. Her hands were held together, clapped together at her chin, like Gray had said something hilarious and it had absolutely killed her. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were pink and she looked so absolutely beautiful it kind of hurt Natsu's chest.

Gray was laughing too and they seemed to be having a great time, and for a single second, Natsu thought about leaving. He thought about turning around and heading back out the door, taking the stench of the swamp with him.

But he couldn't. He couldn't just walk away and let Lucy go on a date with Gray because it wasn't right and he loved her and she belonged with him because they'd be perfect together.

So Natsu forced himself forwards, shoes squishing, water pouring out with every step. But he didn't care. He was dizzy and he felt like throwing up but she was beautiful like sunshine, and he had to do this right now or else he might just die.

So he dashed right up to Lucy and Gray's date and he interrupted it.

He was panting and he stunk like shit, and he ran right up to their table and he grabbed her shoulders a little more roughly than he'd intended.

Lucy's eyes were wide and she seemed utterly shocked, and she blinked at the boy who was grabbing her. "Natsu?"

"Do you like him?" Natsu asked, voice loud and impatient.

He had to know. If she said yes, he'd leave, never say another word about it. He loved her and he wanted her and he had to let her know, but he didn't want to be rude. He couldn't shove her feelings to the side like that. He had to know if she liked Gray before he told her anything.

Lucy blinked. "What?"

Natsu's throat was tight. "Do you like him? Do you like Gray?"

His heart was pounding and he searched her face as he waited for a response. A quick second passed but time was moving so slowly and he didn't know what to do, so he focused on the warmth of her shoulders on his fingertips and tried not shake her, desperate for an answer.

"N-Natsu," Lucy stumbled. "I…"

"Please," Natsu begged, meeting her gaze with intensity. "Please, just answer my question."

People were watching them, now. Everyone had turned their attention Natsu loudly asking Lucy about her feelings, to the muddy boy who was staring intently at the beautiful girl in the dress.

Lucy's eyes softened and her expression melted and her eyelashes fluttered once; her cheeks grew a little pink and the corners of her lips twisted up into what threatened to become the most beautiful smile the world had ever seen.

"No, Natsu," She whispered. "I don't."

He should've leaned forward and kissed her. Or he should've said something alone the lines of _I love you and I've always loved you and you're everything I've ever needed_ but instead, he opened his mouth and said the stupidest shit he could possibly muster.

"You don't?" He repeated.

Lucy smirked. "I don't."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

" _Really?_ "

Lucy sighed. "Yes, Natsu!"

"Oh." He blinked. "Well, that's…good."

Gray groaned, putting his head in his hand. "You're killin' me, Natsu. Just _tell_ her."

Natsu turned his gaze back to the blonde, his dark eyes searching her brown ones carefully. And it took him a couple seconds to get the words out, because he was so nervous and scared, and his voice was shaky and it cracked, but he didn't care.

Because he was in love with her.

"You're my best friend," Natsu mumbled, tripping over his words. "And I think I'm in love with you."

Lucy's eyes were watery and she giggled, heart melting at the sound of his words. "I think I'm in love with you, too."

And he was covered in mud and had a whole in the ass of his pants and he stunk like sewer, but he didn't care. So he brought his hands to her cheeks and he leaned forward and he pressed his lips to hers as soft as could be. And it was perfect and they fit together and everything was fireworks, and the kiss deepened because he loved her so much and she'd loved him for so long, and all of this pent up emotion was just bursting out of them.

It felt right.


	17. We're a Thing

She'd finished her dinner date with Natsu (Gray had gracefully bowed out—after he demanded Natsu pay him the five hundred some bucks for the date. Natsu agreed, not really minding. After all, he'd been the one to walk out of the entire situation a winner, so he couldn't really complain) and they'd had a wonderful time.

They'd chatted, ate delicious food, stuffed their bellies; afterwards, Lucy gave him her gift, which was a basket filled with homemade baked goods. Natsu was thrilled; they spent the rest of the date munching on chocolate chip cookies and banana muffins. Natsu was thoroughly impressed with Lucy's baking skills, and he demanded she make him some more. Lucy giggled and agreed, snorting at the chocolate smeared across his cheeks.

After their romantic dinner, the duo headed to the dance, which had just begun. It was still quiet—the rest of the school was yet to arrive—but the decorations were up and the place was dimly lit and the DJ had already begun his set. Natsu jogged over to the DJ and whispered into his ear, requesting a song, and then jogged back to Lucy.

He grabbed her hands gently, pulling her in against his chest suddenly; Lucy gasped as music began to play overhead. Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers began to seep into the empty gym, playing just for the two of them.

Lucy's heart was pounding and her cheeks went red. Natsu smirked, twisting her wrist up, holding her in position as they began to slow dance.

"Sorry I smell so bad," Natsu murmured, making a face as he sniffed himself as they began to sway. "If I'd known things would turn out like this, I wouldn't have cut through the swamp."

Lucy laughed, shrugging the smell off. It wasn't that bad. "What was the rush?"

Natsu sighed. "I figured if I didn't come fast enough you'd end up dating Gray or kissing him or something." He huffed out a breath. "So, I took a couple shortcuts."

"Yeah, I noticed. Your ass is hanging out."

The boy glanced back, peering at his pants; they were torn, the back end completely ripped off, revealing his flame boxers. He turned back to Lucy, shrugging. "You get used to the breeze."

She laughed, but then her expression fell serious. She was quiet for a couple long moments, and Natsu's expression was somber upon seeing this look on her face. He knew what was coming—the serious talk they'd failed to have so far.

He'd kissed her. Gray had left. They'd had dinner and chatted, and now they were here. They'd been stupid flirty all night, but still hadn't exactly spoken about what happened. It was going to happen eventually.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Lucy whispered, eyes flickering up to the pink haired boys'.

Natsu's gaze dropped shyly. "About what?"

"Don't play dumb, Natsu," Lucy sighed. "Why didn't you tell me before about your…feelings?"

"Because," Natsu said, spitting the words out as if they were obvious. His eyes flashed up to hers and his eyebrows raised slightly; he shook his head. "Look at you, Luce—you're so out of my league and you're my best friend and I thought you'd think I was a fuckin' pervert for even seeing you in that way, and—"

Lucy stepped forward, pressing her lips to his, cutting his words off. His breath stopped and his heart hammered and his big clumsy hands wound around her waist; their lips twisted against each other, molding together perfectly.

That seemed to shut him up.

Lucy pulled back once she was breathless, a little smile on her lips. "Shut up, dummy."

Natsu's eyes were soft and his cheeks were red and he almost appeared…shy. When he spoke, his voice was low and rocky, tone absolutely serious.

"You're just…you're so beautiful, Luce. I figured you deserved better."

Her cheeks went red. "I want you."

Natsu tried to suffocate the goofy, embarrassing grin that was bubbling to the surface, but he couldn't quite stop it; his lips twisted up and his cheeks went red and his eyes dropped to his shoes. "Well…good. 'Cuz I want you, too, Luce."

And so, they danced.

Slowly, kids began to pile into the gym. Within fifteen minutes, the place was packed; the dance floor was filled and the snack bar line was working its way around the entire gym. The DJ had to increase the volume on the speakers so that the music was audible over the chattering and laughing of the teenagers.

The songs picked up, and everyone was dancing. Lucy and Natsu took a couple breaks to get water and snacks, but for the most part, they danced the night away.

And in the middle of one song, Natsu, all sweaty from dancing, pulled Lucy close and whispered in her ear.

"Wanna be my girlfriend?"

And Lucy had blushed and laughed and nodded back, because _yes_ of course, she would be absolutely fucking honored to be his girlfriend.

They danced and laughed and had the time of their lives. Lucy made sure to track down the girls—they'd been observing Lucy dancing with the pink haired boy in utter confusion—and explain to them what had happened.

"So, wait a second!" Juvia said after Lucy explained shorthand what had gone down. "You liked Natsu the whole time but you were just best friends with him so you went on a date with that Gray guy but you still liked Natsu and Natsu liked you the whole time too but he never said anything and you never said anything but you both kind of acted like it and he tried to bet on you but Gray won the bet but Natsu interrupted the dinner and confessed everything to you and now you're dating?"

Lucy blinked at her friends. "Um, yes."

"So does that mean Gray is single?"

Lucy had laughed and dragged Juvia to the snack bar, where a rather glum looking Gray had been sitting, stuffing his face. She'd introduced the two—Gray's face had lit up immediately—and left them chatting, returning to Natsu on the dance floor. Throughout the night, she'd glance over to check on them; the two hadn't left the corner of the gym, too busy chatting to care about dancing. Things seemed to be going well.

The girls disappeared one by one, all incredibly excited that they were at a school dance where _boys_ were, all getting asked to dance by random fellows. Lucy couldn't track any of the girls down other than Juvia, but she figured everyone was fine.

After a couple hours of dancing, Natsu and Lucy were ready to go. They didn't need to say it—the look on both of their faces confirmed that they'd had enough sweaty dancing and were ready to lay down, watch a movie and eat some snacks.

Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and hauled her through the crowd, making sure no one bumped her or jostled her in the slightest. Girls whispered about the two of them, pointing and wondering aloud if they'd finally hooked up; the conversations made Lucy blush.

They stepped out of the school, the night air refreshing against their sweaty skin; they made their way around the corner of the school, headed towards the back, to the path that lead to their homes. There were a couple street lamps that lit the way, but for the most part, it was a shrouded, shadowy walk alongside the side of the school.

"Shh," Natsu whispered, nodding to the path up ahead. They were nearing the end of the school, to the point where they would break off from the sidewalk and hit the dirt path leading across the school's field; that path would eventually connect to the sidewalk that passed by their houses. But there was something up ahead that caught Natsu's interest; he clapped his hands over Lucy's mouth and kept his eyes trained on the darkness. "Look."

Lucy narrowed her eyes into the darkness, trying to see what he'd seen. After a couple seconds, she'd figured it out: there was a couple making out in the shadows of the school, leaning up against the building. She couldn't tell who the couple was.

Natsu's voice was in her ear. "Let's scare them."

Lucy grinned with excitement. The two crouched over, sneaking up on the unsuspecting couple making out heatedly in the shadows; Lucy and Natsu sneaked up, gave each other a signal, and then pounced up, screaming in order to scare the couple.

The girl screamed and the boy shouted and they jumped away from the wall, into the glow of the streetlight.

"Levy?" Lucy frowned.

Natsu made a face. "Gajeel?"

Levy and Gajeel looked at their feet. Both of their hair was messy and out of place; Levy's lipstick was smeared against her cheek a little bit. They both had red faces.

Natsu cringed at the awkwardness he'd just brought upon the entire group. "I—er, holy shit. I mean, we didn't mean to—and we didn't know you…I figured, um…" He trailed off, not really sure where to go with this. "Luce?"

Lucy's mouth was still open. She stumbled for a second, stuttering, trying to get some words out. "I—I didn't mean—Levy, I mean—we didn't know and…"

Gajeel grimaced. "Just go."

Natsu nodded, taking advantage of the opportunity. He reached down and grabbed Lucy's wrist, pulling her behind him as he jogged away. "Yup. Bye."

As they ran away, Lucy hollered back, "You better tell me everything!"

Lucy and Natsu snickered about the situation as they walked home, hands intertwined. The wind picked up as they walked and made Lucy shiver; Natsu tugged his sweater off and pulled it over her head. Lucy cuddled into herself; it was warm and toasty and soft and smelled like him.

They made their way up the porch steps, holding hands; Natsu pulled her hand up and pressed his lips to the back of her palm, kissing her hand sweetly. Lucy pulled him towards her and kissed his cheek. They made their way into the house, kissing each other in various spots: Lucy kissed his cheek, Natsu kissed her nose, so she kissed his chin and he kissed her forehead. They did all of this as they were backing into the house, smiles on their lips, in total bliss.

Until there was a tense ' _a-hum_ ' from the doorway, and both of the teens glanced up and saw Lucy's father watching them, arms crossed, stern look on his face.

Jude's voice was low. "Explain."

So, Lucy and Natsu awkwardly tried to explain to her father about how they were kinda sorta dating now, and how they'd liked each other all along the entire time and how they were more than best friends. Jude nodded along, clearly not impressed—all of the time he allowed them to sleepover with each other came back, haunting him.

Once they finished explaining, Lucy shyly peered up at her dad. "So…me and Natsu are now…a _thing_. So, yeah."

"That's great," Jude said, expression flat. "And where exactly where you two headed?"

Lucy shrugged. "My room. Gonna watch a movie, eat some icecream."

Jude stood up from his seat on the couch. "Not likely!"

Natsu made a face. "Why not, Jude?"

Jude shook his finger at Natsu. "No, no—none of that. No more sleepovers, no more late night gallivanting." He looked at Natsu. "No more running in here and emptying the fridge and calling me Jude. Now it's _Mr. Heartfilia_ to you."

Natsu pouted.

"Dad," Lucy sighed. "We're just going to watch a movie."

"No boyfriends in the bedroom."

"Dad, come on!" Lucy cried. "It's Natsu!"

Jude had a little smirk on his lips, almost like he was amused by the two teens getting together and having to deal with _this_. "Yes. But before, Natsu was just the little brat who ate all my food—now, he's your boyfriend. No boyfriends in the bedroom."

Lucy groaned, annoyed.

"That's fine, Ju—um, Mr. Heartfilia." Natsu gave Lucy's father a wink; Jude rolled his eyes in response. "We'll follow the rules."

Jude let out a sigh. "Never thought I'd hear those words outta your mouth."

Natsu gave Lucy a smile. "I'll just go home. See you tomorrow?"

Lucy grinned back. "Of course."

Natsu leaned in for a kiss, but paused; he glanced over at Jude, whose face was nearly purple, now, and decided against it. Natsu leaned back and stuck his hand out for a high-five. Lucy snorted and slapped her hand against his, just like they did when they were younger.

Natsu left, clattering his way down the Heartfilia's porch; Lucy was stuck facing the awkward wrath of her father—who flew into a spiel about how chastity was the best birth control and how if she was going to be active, she should be safe because he was far too young to be a grandfather and he sure as hell wasn't ready to be a grandfather to _Natsu's_ kid and Lucy cringed and told him to stop but he continued. After a while, once Jude had settled down somewhat, Lucy headed up to her bedroom, exhausted from the entire day.

Jude sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. So far, his life here had been pretty peaceful. Lucy, as a child, had always been out with Natsu, and he'd never thought much of it. They'd been best friends, practically like siblings. Obviously, things had changed, but he'd never considered them _dating_ a real option. He hadn't particularly wanted to.

Natsu was troublesome even as the best friend living next door. Jude didn't want to imagine the stresses of Natsu being over, being Lucy's boyfriend. Jude sighed, already stressed out, but with a smile on his lips. If his little girl was happy, he was happy. Even if that meant he'd end up being Natsu's father in law someday.

Lucy hopped up her stairs and turned into her room, surprised to see a familiar face awaiting her arrival across the little gap between their rooms. He had the can pressed against his mouth and was singing to her; she could hear it from the doorway.

Lucy grinned and made her way to the window, getting on her knees and grabbing her can.

He was singing Unchained Melody, the song they'd danced to when they were alone in the gym. Lucy blushed and closed her eyes, listening to his rough voice smoothly change pitch. After he finished, they started to talk.

And they didn't stop talking until three in the morning, when they both passed out at their window sills, cans smushed up against their faces.

They were best friends, neighbors, boyfriend and girlfriend. They were exactly who they needed to be, exactly where they needed to be.

Everything was perfect.

 ** _A/N: Hey everyone! So this is the final chapter of One Of The Boys! Thanks so much for reading!_**

 ** _I know this was a short little story, but this is exactly what I intended for this to be. After writing Compulsive (another of my Nalu fics-go check it out if you haven't already!) which was long-winded and deep and intense, I just wanted to write something short and sweet and kind of fun. And I had a blast writing this!_**

 ** _It was kind of a struggle at first, because I had a totally different story in mind-one that focused a lot more on jealousy and Lisanna and whatnot-but I really didn't want to take this in a stereotypical 'Gray wants Lucy who wants Natsu who wants Lisanna' sort of thing...so if that's what you were after, I'm sorry to disappoint!_**

 ** _**please, if you have any ideas for a fic you'd like me to write or prompts for a one-shot, feel free to message me! I love getting ideas from other people and twisting it my own way, so please shoot me a PM!**_**

 _ **Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I hope you all read my next fanfics as well :) Again, feel free to send me prompts for fics or one-shots!**_


	18. Jude Is Stressed But Life is Good

**_A/N:_** ** _So, it's been a while. But I've gotten a lot of questions about an epilogue for this story, and I've never been able to come up with anything worthwhile. But some of you really wanted this, so here it is! I wrote this in half an hour, so be prepared for nonsense and bad grammer, but oh well. I just needed a little more of my 'One of the Boys' Natsu and Lucy, and here they are, in all their glory._**

 _ **I just wanted to say, I loved writing this piece, even if you readers weren't the biggest fans. It was fun and light and random but it was everything I needed to write at the time. I hope you guys liked it. It meant a lot to me! Please feel free to review, comment, message me about future story ideas or even just about your life. Let's be friends!**_

"Jesus—fuckin' hell, Luce, fuck—" A voice grunted, a couple bangs against the wall filling the gaps as it sucked in heavy breaths, "Open you're goddamn window, I swear to god."

Lucy sat up in her bed, eyes wide. "Natsu?" She hissed, trying to keep her voice low so her father didn't hear anything and get suspicious.

" _Yes_ , Natsu! Who else would be climbing through your window at three in the morning?"

Lucy hauled herself out of bed, padding over to the window where the pink haired boy was so elegantly caught. His right leg and arm had managed to winch themselves through the small gap between the window and the window sill, but his left side was still flailing freely from the second story height, nothing to grab on to. A snort of laughter bubbled its way up her throat, and she couldn't help but laugh at the boy.

"I dunno," Lucy responded, smirking at Natsu. "Murderers, kidnappers? There's lots of options."

Natsu rolled his eyes, mumbling under his breath, "Oh, so you're a comedian now. That's real funny."

Lucy grabbed his hand so he wouldn't fall and shoved the window up the entire way; she hauled the boy in, tugging on his arm until he fell through the gap, sprawling out on her wooden floor. He was breathing hard—he must've been struggling, trying not to fall to his imminent death from her partially closed window—but had a little smile on his lips.

"What're you doing here?" Lucy asked, shaking her head at him.

Natsu beamed up at her, giving her his typical bright grin. "Came to visit ya."

"And you couldn't go through the front door, like a normal human being?"

"Yeah, yeah, Luce," Natsu said sarcastically, hauling himself up to a sitting position; his dark eyes locked onto hers. "That's a perfect plan. Walk right through you're front door, right past your dad's bedroom. He'd hear me because I'm a loud idiot, and I'd be banned for life. Great idea. How'd I forget about that?"

Lucy crossed her arms. "Oh, right," She pouted. "I forgot that you're not allowed over after ten anymore. Or up here, for that matter."

Natsu shrugged, letting out a sigh and hopping up to his feet. "I was bored, and you couldn't hear me screaming at you through the can, so I figured I'd come visit."

"You know my dad will kill you if he sees you, right?"

"Well, then he won't see me. Problem solved."

Lucy shook her head, rolling her eyes. "You're bad." Still, she couldn't help but blush.

They'd been dating for a couple months, now, and things hadn't ever been better. She was in absolute paradise; she was dating the boy she'd been in love with since she was five years old, and they lived right next door to one another. Not to mention, they were best friends. They never ran out of things to talk about.

But, as much as things had gotten better, the struggle to be close had only gotten harder. Upon learning of his daughter's new relationship with the hooligan next door, Jude had really slammed down with harsh rules regarding visitors.

Natsu was welcome to walk Lucy to and from school, no problems. However, he couldn't come over right after school, like usual—the earliest Natsu could come over was 5 o'clock, for a family dinner, and that's it. He couldn't sit beside Lucy, he couldn't go up to Lucy's room after dinner, and they had to be in full view of Jude at all times.

Natsu thought Jude was paranoid; Lucy thought he was becoming Hitler 2.0.

But the teenager had learned to work around the rules Lucy's father had so sternly set up; they would hold hands and kiss the entire way to school, take their time heading home after class so they could sneak off into the forest and make out a little bit. When Jude had to work late, Natsu and Lucy would dash up to her room and lay on her bed, flirting and laughing.

But to Lucy's chagrin, there had been no sleepovers since her father had implemented the new rules.

But tonight, that was different.

"I'll be outta here by five AM," Natsu said, flopping onto his stomach on Lucy's mattresss. He let out a content sigh, snuggling into her pillows. "You're bed's the comfiest."

Lucy laughed, rolling her eyes. "Fine—but that's it. If he catches us, we're dead. No more Natsu and Lucy. He'll murder you."

"You don't think I could take him?"

Lucy raised her eyebrows. "Are you seriously considering fighting my dad?"

"I'd consider fighting anyone."

"Idiot."

"Whatever, weirdo. Put a movie on."

Lucy made her way over to her laptop, choosing a movie and letting it play. Natsu glanced at the screen, but opted to turn his attention to his girlfriend once she plopped down beside him. He reached down and clasped her hand, intertwining their fingers; he smiled once he noticed the blush touch her cheeks.

Four months in, and he was still madly in love.

They watched the movie for a while, but got restless; after about an hour of pacing her bedroom, Lucy offered the single greatest idea of all time.

"Wanna sneak out and head to the baseball diamond? I'll bring my bat and my mitt."

Natsu turned to her, eyes watching her in the dark. She was wearing some old sweats and one of Natsu's old t-shirts—she'd stolen it, claiming she likes falling asleep with his smell nearby. Her hair was down, long and shiny, and her eyes were bright, makeup free. And he couldn't help it when his cheeks flushed a little, when his heart rate picked up. Because this was his Lucy—his childhood best friend, the little tomboy he'd trust his life with, and his beautiful girlfriend. He'd never been happier.

"Yup—let's do it."

And so, they did. They snuck out of Lucy's window—they had to jump to Natsu's bedroom, then leave the main entrance of his house so that Jude wouldn't hear—and made their way to the diamond, baseball equipment in tow.

They chatted as they threw the ball around, talking about how Gray was supposed to leave Friday to go visit Juvia at the academy or how Gajeel and Levy had been making plans to move in together after graduation. Then, they opted to start batting; Lucy pitched for Natsu and he hit a homer right off the bat, no hesitation.

Lucy grinned. "Wow, showboater. Typical nationals baller."

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Shaddup."

A couple months earlier, Natsu had tried out for the provincial seniors baseball team, and made it—thanks to Lucy prepping him and training with him every day. After the start of the season and six homeruns, Natsu had been scouted by the national seniors baseball team, and they'd asked him to join their league; he'd happily accepted.

"Surprised you're not more full of yourself," Lucy called out, running to grab the ball from over the fence. "Since you're on your way to playing pro ball and everything."

Natsu let out a groan, embarrassed. "Luce—quit makin' me seem like a douche."

After Natsu's success on the nationals team, several scouts had contacted the boy and told him that some pro ball teams in the area were interested him for the next year, once he was over the maximum age for the seniors league. He'd already been offered positions and cash by three different teams, but he was still deliberating on which offer to accept.

"I'm just sayin', you're very successful," Lucy said as she returned to the pitcher's mound, tossing the ball up in the air and catching it again.

"Set me up," Natsu said, giving her a nod, implying he wanted her to pitch. He turned back to the topic at hand. "Besides—it's hard not to be successful when I've got such a good pitcher helping me train."

Lucy blushed. "You flatter me."

She tossed the ball at him and he swung, sending it flying far beyond the back fence; it flew into the forest, consumed by the darkness of the trees.

"Damn," Natsu mumbled. "That was my last ball."

Lucy laughed, making her way over to her boyfriend; she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good job."

His big hands wrapped around her waist. "Thanks—you, too."

They went and laid down in the centre of the field and stared up at the stars, chatting until the sun began to rise, lighting up the sky. Natsu began to yawn, and Lucy tugged him up from his spot on the ground, hauling him back towards their houses.

They went through Natsu's house, and jumped the gap to Lucy's bedroom. Natsu instantly passed out on Lucy's bed, and the blonde followed suit, exhausted from the long day and the late-night exercise they'd just partaken in.

Both slept soundly, dreaming about the bright futures ahead of them.

Unfortunately, they were both brutally awakened by the sound of screaming.

Lucy's right eye popped open, and she let out a groan. "It's too early," She sputtered, "What's going on?"

" _What's going on?_ " A deep voice boomed. "What's going on? You want to know what's going on? Betrayal! A lack of respect for authority, that's what! Boyfriends sleeping in girlfriend's beds! _Hooligans_ getting freaky with _my_ princess—"

Lucy shot up in bed, eyes wide. Her father stood, looming over the bed, face nearly purple. Lucy glanced to her left, cringing the second she saw Natsu in her bed, still snoring, half naked.

"Where's his clothes?" Her father demanded. "What happened to following the rules?"

Natsu rolled over, murmuring. "…Shaddup."

" _What?_ " Jude hollered, face red from lack of oxygen.

"Oh, no," Lucy whispered.

" _Natsu Dragneel! You get out of that bed this instant!_ " Jude hollered, voice booming throughout the entire house.

That seemed to wake Natsu up; he lurched to a standing position, hair spiking up erratically. "Eh? Wha?" His eyes landed on Lucy's dad, and suddenly everything made sense. He'd forgotten to get up and leave at 5 o'clock, and Lucy's father had come to say goodbye to his daughter before he left for work. They'd been caught. "Oh, fuck."

Natsu took off, grabbing his shirt from the floor and dashing to the window; he tossed himself through the gap, throwing himself into his own bedroom. Before he jumped, he leaned back with a grin on his face and called, "Love ya, Luce!" He fell to the floor of his own bedroom, escaping Jude's attempted to grab the boy and murder him. "Sorry Jude!"

Lucy hid her face in her hands, cringing. Her face was red and her heart was thumping madly in her chest, hearing the words Natsu had called out to her.

 _Love ya!_

"That's Mr. Heartfilia to you, boy!" Her dad yelled back, glaring at Natsu from across the gap. "This isn't over!"

"Bye, Natsu…" Lucy responded half-heartedly, knowing she was about to be in massive trouble. "Love you too."

Natsu ducked out of his bedroom, desperate to avoid eye-to-eye contact with Lucy's dad any further.

Her dad turned to her. "That kid is _banned_. Permanently. I forbid you to love him. First, he empties my fridge of all of its contents for seventeen goddamn years. Then, next thing I know, you guys are dating and all cutesy? I thought you had better taste than that, Lucy. What a hooligan."

Lucy's cheeks were still hot, and her eyes fell on her father. "Dad…" She trailed off.

The color in his cheeks seemed to fade away, now that he was breathing properly, and his expression softened. He sat down on the edge of her bed, letting out a little chuckle. Sure, the kid knew how to press his buttons, but he actually _did_ like the fellow. Natsu was something else, but he seemed to be a perfect fit for Lucy.

"You know I'm just fooling around, Lucy, right?" Jude asked, voice careful. He'd always been yelling at Natsu, ever since he'd first become friends with Lucy—but now, he didn't want Lucy to think he actually hated the punk. "He's a good kid."

She smiled. "I know."

Lucy's father was quiet for a long moment, and his hand landed on her head, patting her hair. "The way you look at him…" He trailed off for a second. "It's the way your mother looked at me."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He smiled at his daughter. "I'm glad your finally happy, Lucy."

Lucy grinned back. "Me too, dad."

Finally, she was happy. She had found herself. She had found her place. And everything was perfect.


End file.
